Product Details

• Actors: Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Dave Finnegan
• Directors: Alan Parker
• Writers: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Roddy Doyle
• Producers: Armyan Bernstein, David Wimbury, Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: May 7, 1992
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302312442
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,155 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

An irresistible, comic drama from director Alan Parker (Evita, Mississippi Burning), overflowing and alive with passion, humor, and music, The Commitments showcases some old R&B standards in a new light. A headstrong, fast-talking, ambitious young Dubliner (Robert Arkins) fancies himself a promoter of talent, and sets about assembling and packaging a local Irish R&B band. His group of self-absorbed, backbiting, but stunningly talented individuals begin to succeed beyond his wildest dreams, until petty jealousies and recrimination threaten to scuttle the whole deal. A moody, vivid, and soulful exploration of the Dublin club scene as well as a showcase for some wonderful unknown actors, the film (and its wonderful soundtrack) also features the actual band covering classic soul tunes from the likes of Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. It's that combination of soul and soul music that makes The Commitments a special little film. --Robert Lane

From The New Yorker

Alan Parker's film is a loose, friendly musical comedy about the brief career of an Irish soul band. The Commitments are the brainchild of an energetic young music enthusiast named Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins), who lives in a poor Dublin neighborhood. He puts together a ten-piece group that learns, eventually, to play precise and spirited versions of soul classics in the Memphis style. The music of the Commitments isn't original, but that doesn't prevent it from being enormously entertaining: the band's hard-won proficiency charms us. Parker concentrates on the day-to-day details of rehearsals and performances; he seems to revel in the complexity of the group's musical, emotional, and sexual interactions, and he does full comic justice to the petty irritations of life in a band. The movie gives us a vivid picture of Dublin's poverty and urban blight, but it's more interested in capturing the rhythm of the characters' wit than in showing us how oppressed they are. What holds the Commitments together is a combination of Jimmy's ingenuity, their common pleasure in making music, and the daily challenge of responding to their fellow band members' provocations with quick, profane humor. The kids' verbal sparring is another kind of music-maybe the true sound of Dublin soul. Until the last half hour, when the direction gets a little pushy, the picture has an offhand, unassuming grace. Most of the Commitments are played by young Dublin musicians who answered a casting-call advertisement. They're a vivacious and spontaneous crew: Andrew Strong, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle, Glen Hansard, Kenneth McCluskey, Félim Gormley, Dave Finnegan, Dick Massey, and Michael Aherne. The only professional actors among them are Bronagh Gallagher and Johnny Murphy (as the group's guru, a fiftyish trumpet player known as Joey the Lips). Colm Meaney does a very funny turn as Jimmy's Elvis-worshipping dad. The screenplay is by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, and Roddy Doyle, from Doyle's novel. The songs are great-chosen, with unusual intelligence, from the repertoires of Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and other soul giants. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hallelujah! Widescreen and extras all the way!, January 19, 2004

By 

David Kusumoto (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Commitments (DVD)

For the better part of four years, I've complained about this fantastic movie going in and out of print, but ALWAYS ONLY available in the lousy pan-and-scan (instead of widescreen) format.

This film, masterfully directed by the great British musical/drama cinematic maestro, Alan Parker (e.g., Evita, Angela's Ashes, Fame, etc.), deserved better treatment, and finally, let's thank the good executives at Fox Video for listening! A double-disk widescreen presentation with plenty of bonus features! Hooray!

Keep in mind that this is one of the greatest films ever made in the 1990s, so influential and original to the extent that it made the British Film Institute's list of the best 100 films ever made in Ireland and the British Isles during the last century. Yet eerily, I can only count on two hands the number of people who've seen it! This has gotta change!

Now the film is issued on DVD as it was meant to be seen -- in full stereo and widescreen glory. I like the fact that Fox Video gave this "little" picture a chance, that it heard the complaints from rabid fans for years and finally did something about it!...

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Say it Once, Say it Loud!, May 19, 2004

By 

M. Casarino (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Commitments (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD)

"The Commitments" is a raucous and joyful celebration of music. It's a gloriously simple and lovable tale, told with passion, profanity, and a deep understanding of how music can infect even the most despairing life with joy. About time the movie got its proper release on DVD.

If you've never seen "The Commitments" because you cringe at the notion of white Dubliners singing American soul tunes, well, I hear ya. I fully expected watered-down music along the lines of Michael Bolton butchering Percy Sledge. However, I was wrong - the music, in the context of the movie, is pure and genuine, and performed by young actors who understand that you don't have to pretend to be anything you're not to get soul. Besides, Jimmy Rabbitte, the mastermind behind the band, gives them all a thoroughly convincing speech that assures the lads and lasses from Dublin that they, too, are qualified to sing soul.

The movie - well, it's wonderful. Hilarious, free, sometimes moving, life-affirming. I almost wish the movie let the characters develop a little more before the inevitable and mythical ending, but then Joey the Lips gently reminds me (and Rabbitte), "this way, it's poetry." He's right - this is the proper ending for these guys, and the movie.

The DVD offers some great extras, including a revealing making-of doc, where we learn that director Parker combed the nightclubs of Dublin nightly, looking for fresh talent. I also love the 10-years-later feature, where we get to revisit our old friends again. These are suitable extras for a movie that just plain makes you feel glad to be alive - how much more can you ask of a movie than that?

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm sorry you doubted me, brother Rabbitte ..., June 6, 2003

By 

Irving Forbush "codejockey" (Davidson, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Commitments [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of my all-time favorite films. If you love blues/R&B/soul, you'll find plenty to like in this film, even if you don't listen to anything else except the music. Andrew Strong is great as the "bollix-for-brains" lead singer of the Commitments, and was only 16 (!) when the film was made (shades of Johnny Lang!). But don't overlook some great performances by the female vocalists as well; "Natalie" (Maria Doyle) does a fantastic job with "I Never Loved a Man (the Way that I Love You)" and "Imelda" (Angeline Ball) really shows her stuff on "Chain of Fools"). The film also features great background classics by performers such as Delbert McClinton ("I've Got Dreams to Remember").

Yes, it's Irish, and you do have to listen closely in a few spots to understand the dialogue, but it's definitely worth the effort. The film is down-to-earth without being gritty or depressing, and accurately portrays the trials and tribulations of a band in the making. The music is superb, the dialogue is honest, funny and just wacko enough to be believable, and the plot (such as it is) doesn't really matter -- there's enough going on with the characters to keep things moving for the duration.

Recommended -- and when it comes out on DVD -- highly recommended.