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Killing Bono

Killing Bono

Comedy · Drama · 2011

The true story of Neil and Ivan McCormick, two Irish brothers who attempt to become rock stars but can only look on as their high school friends U2 become the biggest band in the world.

Movie details

Killing Bono

“Sex, drugs & rock 'n roll rivalry”

2011 Comedy · Drama 1h 55m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.4 / 10

6.8K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

55 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

46 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

The true story of Neil and Ivan McCormick, two Irish brothers who attempt to become rock stars but can only look on as their high school friends U2 become the biggest band in the world.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Killing Bono?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Nick Hamm

Written by

Dick Clement · Ian La Frenais · Simon Maxwell

Ben Barnes

Ben Barnes

Neil McCormick

Robert Sheehan

Robert Sheehan

Ivan McCormick

Pete Postlethwaite

Pete Postlethwaite

Karl

Krysten Ritter

Krysten Ritter

Gloria

Ralph Brown

Ralph Brown

Leo

Justine Waddell

Justine Waddell

Danielle

Luke Treadaway

Luke Treadaway

Nick

Court is in session

Put Killing Bono on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.