A charming admixture of “Goodfellas” and “Almost Famous,” “Killing Bono” is a fanciful rock tale that is nevertheless based on a true story.
In the 1970s, Neil and Ivan McCormick were two Dublin boys whose schoolmates Paul Hewson and Dave Evans joined a band. The group wanted Ivan to join them as its rhythm guitarist, but Neil talked them out of telling Ivan about the offer, insisting that he and his little brother would be the core of their own band. Hewson’s band became U2; the McCormicks formed, er, Shook Up!
Ever-ebullient and tragically headstrong, Neil McCormick (Ben Barnes) fumbles every chance at stardom while his loyal brother (Robert Sheehan) remains in the dark about such questionable moves as turning down a chance to be U2’s opening act at a massive concert and selling 25 percent of the band to a pitiless Irish gangster (Stanley Townsend). By the end of Neil’s story, which is based on his memoir “I Was Bono’s Doppelganger,” U2 is celebrating the release of “The Joshua Tree,” guns are being waved and two guys are invited to take a ride in the trunk of a car. A happy ending for Neil seems pretty much impossible, but that’s exactly what’s in store for this lovable nutter.
Sheehan is so-so (though Pete Postle-thwaite, in his last role, is sweet as the lads’ gay landlord), and the direction is clunky, though not enough to bury the appeal of this amusingly daft story. “Killing Bono” begs to be remade with A-list stars but, given Neil’s history of near-misses, probably won’t be.