Trainspotting

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Trainspotting

R

Released Jul 19, 1996

1h 34m

Comedy

Drama

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Popcornmeter

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.

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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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

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

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Eleanor O'Sullivan

Asbury Park Press (NJ)

It lacks the harrowing quality of a loser's life, but neither does Boyle have the heart to go for all-out farce.

Rated: 2.5/4

Apr 30, 2024

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Obi-wan K

Since when was obi wan on Heroin

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/20/25

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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

Blu B

All Time Classic. The cinematography is graphic, funny, disturbing, and sad. Filled with quirky characters that are somehow mostly likeable besides the fact they are very flawed. It weaves perfectly between the 4 friends with Renton's narration serving as the anchor and being for the most part the main focus. We see all his ups and downs the entire way and want him to succeed. In an ironic way he does but it's such a bittersweet type of ending too. Everything is first rate here and the defintion of a dark coedy that's very graphic and disturbing. It truly immerses you in the world of addicition by showing the effect your friends have on you and yourself as well. If you can stomach very graphic stuff and laugh at very dark subject matters than give this a try. McGregor's finest hour.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/20/25

Full Review

Leprechaun K

I remember loving this movie in my 20s. Seeing it again some 28 years, it didn't age well. Entertaining nonetheless.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/12/25

Full Review

Jay W

I Spotted No Trains Maybe I'm just too much of a prude for the dark humor of this film to work. There is just so much unpleasant stuff in this film. There is a whole lot of poop, and some of the most unsettling scenes ever put to film. There are several scenes with a baby crawling around, and I just kept thinking, OK movie, what are you going to do with that baby? And I don't like the answer they gave. Likewise, the characters are too unlikable to get behind. They are jerks to everyone they meet, and jerks to each other. There is no loyalty or friendship here. There's no growth, there's no reason. But who needs a reason, when you could have heroine?

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/28/25

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Jyri J

Along with an insanely good soundtrack, the plot of Trainspotting is entertaining, sad, satisfying and authentic. You rarely fall in love with the characters this easily. Simply an amazing movie

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/27/25

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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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)

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