Film

The Commitments

Alan Parker's raucous, foul-mouthed love letter to soul music and working-class Dublin follows a hapless manager assembling a ragtag band of misfits to play Motown covers. It's funny, scrappy, and gloriously loud, with a soundtrack that could raise the dead. Best for anyone who wants their heart lifted and their ears blasted in equal measure.

TMDb rating7.3

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Sing Street2016

Another Dublin music dream, this one wrapped in 80s pop instead of soul, with the same underdog scrappiness and genuine affection for the city's working-class corners.

But It's sweeter and more sentimental — less shouting, less swearing, more teenage romance.

Sing Street poster

The Full Monty1997

Unemployed Sheffield steelworkers turn strippers in a comedy that finds real dignity and rage under the laughs, much like Commitments does with its brass and bravado.

But The comedy leans broader and the ending is more triumphant than gritty.

The Full Monty poster

Once2007

John Carney again, this time stripped right down — busking Dubliners, real musicians, songs written and performed with almost no artifice at all.

But Quiet and melancholic where Commitments is loud and combative; a completely different register.

Once poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Hard Day's Night1964

Same DNA decades earlier: a mockumentary-style comedy about a band's chaotic rise, sharp class-inflected humour, and music as the thing that makes drab lives sing.

Black-and-white, quick-tongued, and bursting with musical energy, this is where the template began — young working-class lads, wisecracks, and songs as escape from grey surroundings.

But Gentler and giddier than Commitments; there's no rage here, just cheek and charm.

A Hard Day's Night poster
More like this (8)

This Is Spinal Tap1984

The mockumentary that invented the modern band-comedy template — ego, chaos, and musicians who cannot stop getting in their own way.

But Pure satire with no emotional ballast — it's not trying to move you, just to make you howl.

This Is Spinal Tap poster

Brassed Off1996

A colliery brass band plays on as the pits close around them — working-class solidarity and music as both escape and defiance, just like Barrytown.

But Considerably sadder underneath the jokes; the politics are angrier and the stakes are higher.

Brassed Off poster

The School of Rock2003

Jack Black assembles a band of unlikely talents with pure evangelical joy — the same thrill of watching a ragtag group click into something real.

But Family-friendly and Hollywood-polished; none of the Dublin grit or grown-up chaos.

The School of Rock poster

24 Hour Party People2002no page yet

Manchester's music scene told with the same anarchic, self-mythologising energy — bands rising, egos colliding, everyone convinced they're making history.

But More interested in scene-building and irony than character warmth; a colder, druggier world.

Billy Elliot2000

Working-class British life collides with an unlikely artistic calling, with the same mix of humour, grit, and a soundtrack doing serious emotional heavy lifting.

But It's about ballet, not soul, and leans harder into tears than laughs.

Billy Elliot poster

Pride2014

A big-hearted ensemble comedy-drama about unlikely allies finding common cause through community and music, with the same rowdy warmth and class consciousness.

But Broader political scope and a gentler tone — less shouting matches, more group hugs.

Pride poster

Standing in the Shadows of Motown2002

Commitments is fiction about people chasing Motown's sound; this is the true story of the anonymous players who built that sound, and never got the credit.

A documentary about the Funk Brothers, the uncredited session musicians behind Motown's greatest hits — the real soul music Jimmy Rabbitte worshipped, told by the people who actually made it.

But Talking-heads documentary pacing, no plot or jokes — purely a tribute to musicianship and unsung labour.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown poster

The Blues Brothers1980

Takes the same premise — misfits reunite to play soul music properly — and cranks it up into full-blown, joyous cartoon excess.

A cartoonishly oversized action-comedy about reassembling a ragtag soul band for one last gig, crammed with real R&B legends and car-chase mayhem.

But Far sillier and more slapstick — this is farce with explosions, not kitchen-sink realism.

The Blues Brothers poster

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