Trainspotting

R

Now Playing

1 hr. 34 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

90%

90 Reviews

Tomatometer

93%

250,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Heroin addict Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd). He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane (Kelly Macdonald), along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind when Begbie shows up at his front door on the lam, and a scheming Sick Boy follows.

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Critics Consensus

A brutal, often times funny, other times terrifying portrayal of drug addiction in Edinburgh. Not for the faint of heart, but well worth viewing as a realistic and entertaining reminder of the horrors of drug use.

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Alec C

The downsides of being a drug addict have never been so hilarious and heart-breaking! Mark Renton spends his days with his addict friends getting high and following no direction, until reality forces him to make a decision to step up. Bleak and boisterous, this dark comedy of life in the streets is as energetic as it is engrossing!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/21/24

Full Review

Autumn M

Trainspotting is an honest, yet comic look at drug addiction in Scotland. A young Ewan McGregor is pure electricity as the narrator who is realistic in his portrayal of the constant cycle of drug addiction, sobriety and relapse. Recommended

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/11/24

Full Review

Jack F

Few films, if any, can place a moviegoer in a world of nausea and sheer exuberance uniformly. Trainspotting succeeds and does so brilliantly. You get a sense of where this film is about to take us with Mark Renton's opening narration: "Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f'ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of f'ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f--- you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f'ing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f'ed up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?" Trainspotting is the story of junkies from Edinburgh, Scotland, and how they cope with society through the use of heroin and the like. Director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) authentically depicts the reaction the characters obtain through their addictions. Viewers of the film may tend to feel that the glorification of such substance abuse is the movie's central focus. I tend to disagree. The film has very disturbing themes, however, the underlying narrative of Trainspotting is the friendship of the junkies with our hero Renton (smartly played by Ewan McGregor) as the focal point. Renton's attempts at going "straight" (including a surrealistic scene of his parents attempting to nourish him back to health), keep our mind focused on the glimmer of hope each of these tortured characters has in the achievement of a "healed state". From its unrelenting screenplay to the commitment of the actors, from its hilarious moments to its depressing ones, Trainspotting will make you feel gross at times but is definitely engrossing throughout its entirety. 9.2/10

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/09/24

Full Review

Eric G

This was a film that defined my childhood. Incredible acting, humor, plot and cinematography. You become so invested in the characters you really start to feel their pain. The ending has a great twist as well.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/15/23

Full Review

shweet n

If you can, before the movie, read the book. The movie is good, the book is the bible.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/23/23

Full Review

Luka S

one of my favorite movies, with great vibe, soundtracks and everything.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/07/23

Full Review

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Danny Boyle

Director

Ewan McGregor

Mark "Rent-boy" Renton

Ewen Bremner

Daniel "Spud" Murphy

Jonny Lee Miller

Simon David "Sick Boy" Williamson

Kevin McKidd

Tommy MacKenzie

Robert Carlyle

Francis (Franco) Begbie

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Chris Cabin

Slant Magazine

The film finds pitch-black humor, horror, tragedy, and violence in a series of asides and digressions.

Jul 5, 2021

Full Review

Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

What's interesting, viewing the film now, is how it manages to be both inarguably of its time, the mid 90s, but also has not dated nearly as badly as most youth culture movies tend to.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 16, 2017

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Trainspotting is supercharged with sulphurous humour and brutal recklessness: it charges at you like Ewan McGregor's Renton sprinting from store detectives in the opening sequence.

Rated: 5/5

Jan 12, 2017

Full Review

Aaron Neuwirth

Why So Blu

This original spin through this specific moment in time continues to play as a high-energy display of wit, tragedy, and style in a manner that solidified so much for all involved.

Rated: 5/5

Jan 31, 2024

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The film resists a moralized discussion of drug use to instead presents a story whose ugly, darkly comic details pulse with Boyle's kinetic touch.

Rated: 4/4

Mar 2, 2022

Full Review

Nicholas Oon

Maximum Hype (YouTube)

The screenplay by John Hodge has this incredibly intoxicating eloquence to it, and despite being aimless addicts, most of the characters in this film have such strong personalities, it just makes them stand out.

Rated: 8.3/10

Aug 14, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Heroin addict Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd). He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane (Kelly Macdonald), along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind when Begbie shows up at his front door on the lam, and a scheming Sick Boy follows.

Director: Danny Boyle
Screenwriter: John Hodge
Distributor: Miramax Films
Production Co: Figment Films, Noel Gay Motion Picture Company, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Rating: R (Nudity|Graphic Heroin Use|Sex|Some Violence|Strong Language)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 19, 1996, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 19, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $16.6M
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, Stereo, Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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