The film loosely recreates the story of young Irish rocker McCormick and his younger brother, Ivan, who attempt to become rock stars but can only look on as their secondary school friends form one of the biggest bands in the world, U2.
The film was shot in Northern Ireland,[2] was funded by Northern Ireland Screen[3] and was released by Paramount Pictures (the distributor of U2's film Rattle and Hum) in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 1 April 2011. Sony Music Entertainment released the film's soundtrack worldwide.[4] The European premiere was held in the Savoy CinemainDublin.[5]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 56% based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10.[6]Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7]
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called the film "shapeless", and added that "like its deluded antihero, just doesn't know when to stop".[8]
Noel Murray of The A.V. Club wrote "There's a difference between "funny" and "comedy", and the movie adaptation of Killing Bono tries way too hard to be nutty, at the expense of just getting across what McCormick knows."[9]
According to Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine "[the film] never really gets going, mostly because it has no real idea of how to convey joy, pain, or any type of emotional progression".[10]
Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out was more positive of Killing Bono. His reaction was: "Amadeus it's not, but as light transitional music, the film-which has Pete Postlethwaite's final performance, as a swishy landlord-is tuneful enough".[11]
Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter was also positive about the film, writing "This cleverly conceived, behind-the-scenes tale features fine lead performances and enough nods to the epic group's early days to interest fans outside the U.K."[12]
