Trainspotting
Miramax Films | Release Date: July 19, 1996 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It would be hard to imagine a movie about drugs, depravity, and all-around bad behavior more electrifying than Trainspotting. Read full review
100
Film.comShannon Gee
Keeps you engaged in this story of a memorable anti-hero for our times.
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Heroin may be a downer, but Trainspotting definitely takes you up…a series of roaring, provocative, outrageous highs. [26 July 1996, Friday, p.C]
100
San Francisco ExaminerBarry Walters
Extraordinary, entertaining cinema. Read full review
100
SalonCharles Taylor
The most original, daring, thrilling movie to be released this year, Trainspotting is one of those occasional, astonishing triumphs of risk and imagination that gets you excited about what smart people, pushing themselves and the medium, can accomplish in the movies. Read full review
100
SlateMichael Wood
A desolate, fast, funny, scary film, and it takes more risks than any recent film. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
Trainspotting is supercharged with sulphurous humour and brutal recklessness. Read full review
90
TNT RoughCutJason Puskar
Irresistibly bleak appeal.
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Exuberant and pitiless, profane yet eloquent, flush with the ability to create laughter out of unspeakable situations, Trainspotting is a drop-dead look at a dead-end lifestyle that has all the strength of its considerable contradictions. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Corliss
The film is about joy--in conniving and surviving, in connecting with audiences, in its own fizzy, jizzy style. Read full review
90
VarietyStaff [not credited]
Scabrous, brutal and hip, Trainspotting is a "Clockwork Orange" for the '90s. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The on-target performances, along with the unceasing barrage of popular music and daring narrative gambles, combine to make Trainspotting one of the grand movie rushes of 1996. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
A movie that rudely flings feces at the breakfast table isn't for everyone. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
There's nothing new or unique about the story, but it is presented in a manner that reinforces its immediacy and impact. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
A little like speeding through the digestive tract of some voracious beast. There's bite, acid, digestive churning and an expulsive conclusion. If the metaphor seems unsavoury, well, wait until you see the film. Read full review
87
Mr. ShowbizF. X. Feeney
It's a disturbing film in the best sense. Read full review
80
Film.comJohn Hartl
Ewan McGregor in a raw, funny, star-making performance.
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
A must-see. Read full review
80
NewsweekJohn Leland
Artfully ambivalent, Danny Boyle's film, twists with a junkie's logic. It does not preach; it wallows in the pain and, more daringly, in the pleasure. Read full review
80
Film.comTom Keogh
A surprisingly vital film.
80
Dallas ObserverArnold Wayne Jones
Creates a sense of understanding that crystallizes the essence of the drug subculture with startling clarity. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
The stylish irreverence of Trainspotting mimics that drug high and delivers its own potent kick. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It uses a colorful vocabulary, it contains a lot of energy, it elevates its miserable heroes to the status of icons (in their own eyes, that is). Read full review
75
Baltimore SunAnn Hornaday
Isn't a noble story, or even a cautionary one: It just feels pretty painfully real. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Darkly comic tone of heroin-addiction film sets it apart Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineFrank Lovece
Captures the way drug addiction gives structure and purpose to aimless lives, and evokes the breathtaking rapture of a fix. All this and a happy ending, too. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
A new voyeurism has arisen in the last two decades or so, and Trainspotting caters to it--an addiction to addiction-watching. [August 19, 1996]
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The story, such as it is, follows Renton's inconsistent attempts to kick his habit. Read full review
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