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The Commitments

The Commitments

Comedy · Drama · Music · 1991

Jimmy Rabbitte, just a thick-ya out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan.

Movie details

The Commitments

“They had nothing to lose, they risked it all.”

1991 Comedy · Drama · Music 1h 58m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.2 / 10

Community rating

Jimmy Rabbitte, just a thick-ya out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan.

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 The Commitments?

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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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Alan Parker

Written by

Ian La Frenais · Dick Clement · Roddy Doyle

Robert Arkins

Robert Arkins

Jimmy Rabbitte

Michael Aherne

Michael Aherne

Steven Clifford

Angeline Ball

Angeline Ball

Imelda Quirke

Maria Doyle Kennedy

Maria Doyle Kennedy

Natalie Murphy

Dave Finnegan

Dave Finnegan

Mickah Wallace

Bronagh Gallagher

Bronagh Gallagher

Bernie McGloughlin

F

Félim Gormley

Dean Fay

Court is in session

Put The Commitments on trial.

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

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

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

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

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