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Trainspotting

Play trailer Poster for Trainspotting R 1996 1h 34m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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90% Tomatometer 98 Reviews 93% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
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.
Trainspotting

What to Know

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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Critics Reviews

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Kevin Maher The Times (UK) Easy to start, all-consuming, impossible to quit. Rated: 5/5 May 29, 2024 Full Review Jay Carr Boston Globe The unsinkable vigor coursing through the veins of Trainspotting leaves no doubt that it intends to come down on the side of life. In its chance-taking, its virtuosity and its ultimate morality, it's an exhilarating film. May 1, 2024 Full Review Eleanor Ringel Cater Atlanta Journal-Constitution Choose Trainspotting... if you think you can take it. Rated: 3.5/4 May 1, 2024 Full Review Sarah Boslaugh TheArtsStl Rewatching Trainspotting after almost 30 years, it’s as funny and awful as I remember... Rated: 8/10 Aug 16, 2025 Full Review Nicolás Medina Peliplat The addictions of each of the characters are nothing more than a kind of desperate cry in the face of the uniformity of a decade that, although its montage seems prosperous and pleasant, is nothing more than theatrical and hollow. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 10/10 May 10, 2025 Full Review Chance Solem-Pfeifer Willamette Week Unlike most generational touchstones about alienated young people, Trainspotting has its cake and eats it, too. It gets to be ruthlessly clever about the emptiness of workaday jobs and lifestyle creep while finding the rebellion far more self-destructive. Jan 22, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Kevin M. Such a realistic, version of the toxic lives some of us have experienced. Classic. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/24/25 Full Review Jack F From what I remember, Trainspotting was a good movie. I'm glad it's runtime was short. You often hear that you pair this movie with Requiem for a Dream, and then never watch them again because they're apparently "too much to handle" for more than once. That's BS though, because I would totally watch both again and again. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/17/25 Full Review Lars N One of the most marvelous, visceral movies I've ever seen full of heart, heartbreak, and thrills throughout. Ingeniously shot, there's a playfulness and experimentation here that fits the narrative so, so well. An incredible talent on display both in front and behind the camera. But the most the biggest feat is in the depiction of addiction as something not only related to drugs but to your entire social structure. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/21/25 Full Review Kaz O Wonderfully dark, it’s like a car crash you can’t take your eyes off. This movie was definitely made for someone like me, it kept my attention the whole way through and I found every character likable or at least somewhat sympathetic in an oddly terrible way. There are stand out scenes like “the baby scene” if you know what I’m talking about or “the toilet scene” that I can point to as the reason I enjoyed this film! And the soundtrack? Do not get me started on the soundtrack! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/16/25 Full Review Obi-wan K Since when was obi wan on Heroin Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/20/25 Full Review Dave H This is one of those rare gems. Perfectly cast, perfectly acted, and perfectly directed. Perfect. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/05/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Trainspotting

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Cast & Crew

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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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Trainspotting

Trainspotting (1996) View more photos

Movie Info

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
Producer
Andrew Macdonald
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
British English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 19, 1996, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 19, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$16.6M
Runtime
1h 34m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, Stereo, Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)