--- title: "Kneecap" year: 2024 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/kneecap" fi1m_id: "kneecap" imdb_id: "tt27367464" tmdb_id: 1180629 wikidata_id: "Q123701240" fi1m_score: 80 critics_score: 80 critics_reviews: 17 published: "2026-09-09" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:58.690028+00:00" region: "NO" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Kneecap (2024) Directed by Rich Peppiatt · 1h 45m · Music, Comedy, Drama ## Identity Kneecap - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/kneecap - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** kneecap - **IMDb ID:** tt27367464 - **TMDB ID:** 1180629 - **Wikidata ID:** Q123701240 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27367464/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1180629, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123701240 **Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 80 from 17 reviews *In a sentence:* Two dealers, a music teacher and a balaclava make the case for a language by swearing in it > Rich Peppiatt’s account of how a Belfast rap trio came to be is fast, rude and funnier than anything we have seen in a while, and the band play themselves better than actors would have. The father and the paramilitaries are the price of admission. ## Synopsis Naoise (Móglaí Bap) and Liam Óg (Mo Chara) are two young men in West Belfast who sell drugs, take a good many of them, and speak Irish to each other, partly because they were raised in it and partly because the police cannot follow. When Liam Óg is arrested and refuses to answer in English, the station calls in JJ (DJ Próvaí), a music teacher at an Irish-language school, to translate. He finds a notebook of lyrics and takes it home. Rich Peppiatt’s film has the three members of Kneecap play versions of themselves in an account of how the band began, with Josie Walker as the detective on their case, Simone Kirby as Naoise’s mother and Michael Fassbender as his father. ## Review Naoise (Móglaí Bap) and Liam Óg (Mo Chara) sell drugs in West Belfast, take rather more than they sell, and speak Irish, because they were raised in it and because the police cannot follow. When Liam Óg is lifted and refuses to answer in English, the station sends for JJ (DJ Próvaí), a music teacher at an Irish-language school, to translate. He finds a notebook of lyrics and takes it home. Rich Peppiatt, writing and directing, has the three members of Kneecap play versions of themselves in the story of how the band began, and it is the funniest film we have seen in a good while. It is also carrying two subplots it could have lost. The interview room is where we knew it had us. Josie Walker’s Detective Ellis sits across from Liam Óg trying every tone she has, patient, then bored, then furious, and he answers each one in Irish with a face of perfect helpfulness. We laughed until the person beside us complained, and the laugh is the film’s point: a language the police regard as a museum piece is being used, right now, against them, and it is working. Peppiatt does not put a speech on top of this. He does not need to. Ryan Kernaghan shoots Belfast handheld and close, the lens bending at the edges whenever the pills come out, and Julian Ulrichs and Chris Gill cut fast enough that a night out is over before you have placed the pub. Drawings crawl across the frame and the subtitles arrive in bold colour, more like tags on a wall than captions. Most critics have compared this to [*Trainspotting*](https://film.one/film/trainspotting); Peppiatt is not hiding it. What he adds is that the songs are real, and on stage Michael Asante’s score steps back and lets the tracks do the work. The first gig, in front of a crowd that had come for something else, is where we felt the thing turn from a prank into a band. The three leads are not actors, and it shows in the right ways. Mo Chara delivers the voiceover with the flat confidence of a man who has told this story in pubs, and Móglaí Bap does most of the film’s feeling with his shoulders. DJ Próvaí has the hardest job, a middle-aged teacher who has to be talked into a tricolour balaclava, and his slow surrender is the closest the film gets to a conventional arc. Fionnuala Flaherty plays Caitlin, his partner, who is campaigning for the language through the proper channels and is not delighted to find it being defended with a good deal more swearing. What the film wants to say about Irish it says plainly: the language that lives is the one people are rude in. Jessica Reynolds’s Georgia, a Protestant girl Liam Óg is seeing, gets the joke faster than anyone else, and the scenes between them are the sharpest writing Peppiatt does. Simone Kirby, as Naoise’s mother Dolores, who has not left the house in years, is quiet and exact and gives the film its one still point. Michael Fassbender plays Arló, the father, a republican who is officially dead and unofficially about the place, and the film goes solemn each time he appears; the solemnity does not fit. Adam Best’s Doyle leads a gang of dissidents who object to the drugs, and their scenes are staged like a thriller nobody wanted to make. Both strands exist to give the second half a plot, and the second half could have managed with less of one. Peppiatt announces early that he has no time for the music biopic and then keeps most of its furniture: the meeting, the first gig, the falling out, the big night. He arranges the furniture with more wit than the genre gets, Nicola Moroney’s bedroom studio and school corridors look like places rather than sets, and at 105 minutes nothing is allowed to sit for long. It is an 18, for the drugs and the language, and the language in question is the one the film is defending. We left wanting the records rather than a sequel, which we mean as a compliment. *Fi1m score 80, published 9 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews for Kneecap are warm and unusually consistent, with no outright negative notices among the seventeen read. Praise clusters on the three band members playing heightened versions of themselves; nearly every critic singles out their performances, and most name the film’s energy and profane humour as the main draw. The political point, that the fight for the Irish language belongs alongside other resistance movements, is widely thought to land without preaching, and the editing and restless camerawork are credited with keeping pace with the trio. The reservations are few and specific. IndieWire and Collider both find Michael Fassbender’s presence stiff and misplaced, and Collider calls the plotting rote beneath the noise. The AV Club goes furthest, faulting a meandering middle, repetitive messaging and a film that loses steam after a strong opening. Time Out, otherwise enthusiastic, mentions a comedown once the energy stops. Most critics, though, leave it laughing. ## Straight answers **Is Kneecap worth watching?** *Kneecap* is worth watching for anyone who wants a fast, rude comedy about a Belfast rap trio, and we scored it 80. The three band members play themselves better than actors would have, and the interview room scene is the funniest thing we have seen in a while. The father and the paramilitary subplots slow the second half, and the film could have lost both. **How long is Kneecap, and what is it rated?** *Kneecap* runs 1h 45m. It is a music and comedy film. **Where can I watch Kneecap in Norway?** *Kneecap* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from kr 39.00. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Kneecap, and is it suitable for children?** *Kneecap* is an 18 in the UK and an R in the US, for heavy drug use and constant swearing, and it is not for children. The violence is limited to a thriller strand involving dissident paramilitaries, which is more solemn than frightening. Teenagers used to this sort of thing will cope; anyone squeamish about drugs will not enjoy it. **How does Kneecap compare to Trainspotting?** *Kneecap* borrows openly from [*Trainspotting*](https://film.one/film/trainspotting), with the same handheld close shooting, fast cutting and drawings crawling across the frame, and the earlier film is still the faster and funnier of the two. What *Kneecap* adds is that the songs are real and the band play themselves. Choose *Trainspotting* for the sharper film, *Kneecap* for the music and the joke about a language. **What should I watch after Kneecap?** After *Kneecap*, try [*Trainspotting*](https://film.one/film/trainspotting) (1996, Fi1m 88): The film Kneecap is openly borrowing from; still faster and funnier than its imitators. Then [*The Commitments*](https://film.one/film/the-commitments) (1991, Fi1m 82): Dublin lads form a soul band and fall out; the gigs still carry it; and [*La Haine*](https://film.one/film/la-haine) (1995, Fi1m 90): Three friends, one day, the police at every turn; hip-hop and the estates in black and white. ### Reviews we read (24) - **Little White Lies**, Sophie Monks Kaufman (4/5/4): The critic calls the film a cheeky pseudo-bio that bottles the band's lightning energy as a clarion call to anti-colonial movements while remaining fun. It singles out the righteous vitality of the leads playing themselves and the wry political coherence for praise. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/kneecap) - **Empire**, Ian Freer (85/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's energetic, irreverent take on the origin story of the Irish-language rap trio, highlighting its authentic music, inventive style influenced by Trainspotting, and meaningful exploration of language and identity without preachiness. The verdict celebrates its laughs, smarts, and verve as a joyful celebration of cultural defiance. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/kneecap/) - **Screen Daily** (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film the funniest thing to come out of Belfast in years, a riot that strains band-formation tropes while staking a claim to raw haphazardness. It singles out the three leads' strong performances playing themselves and the editing's channeling of rebel energy for praise. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/kneecap-sundance-review/5189586.article) - **Slant Magazine**, Derek Smith (85/100, inferred): The critic celebrates the film's kinetic style, brash humor, and rebellious spirit, noting how it thumbs its nose at music biopic conventions while capturing the trio's vitality and cultural defiance. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/kneecap-review-michael-fassbender/) - **Variety** (Critics Pick): The critic calls it a boisterous, politically minded comedy and wonderfully offbeat docudrama that serves as a cinematic protest in defense of the Irish language. She singles out the charged performances of the rappers and the vivaciously shapeshifting cinematography. [Read](https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/kneecap-review-1235888803/) - **Sight and Sound** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an outlandish yet exhilarating origin story that deftly balances its anarchic elements with grounded reality. It singles out the band's raw, non-professional performances and the music's consistent catchiness for praise. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/kneecap-biopic-only-beginning-this-anarchic-belfast-hip-hop-trio) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Leslie Felperin (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a gleefully irreverent and cheeky origin story for the real-life rap trio, blending fact and fiction in an exuberant rags-to-riches tale with infectious energy and black comedy. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/kneecap-review-michael-fassbender-1235791855/) - **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (4/5): The critic describes the film as a raucous, unruly Gaelic rap origin story that leaves viewers with a comedown from its nonstop energy. It singles out the real-life band members' brilliant performances playing themselves and the script's focus on key relationships for praise. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/kneecap-review-2024) - **IndieWire**, Adam Solomons (60/100, inferred): The film succeeds as a showcase for the three rappers playing heightened versions of themselves but is undercut by a misplaced Michael Fassbender performance and some IRA drama elements. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/kneecap-review-michael-fassbender-irish-rap-biopic-1234945453/) - **The AV Club**, Jacob Oller (C-): The critic praises the clever parallels between Irish republican oppression and hip-hop rebellion but faults the film for meandering drama, repetitive messaging, and losing steam after a strong start. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/kneecap-review) - **Los Angeles Times**, Robert Abele: The critic finds the film enjoyable and rousing, praising its box-bursting energy and comedic verve in telling the origin story. She singles out director Peppiatt's savvy handling of tones, styles, and the joyful treatment of drug humor and Irish patriotism. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-08-02/kneecap-review-irish-rappers-hip-hop-language) - **RogerEbert.com**, Sheila O'Malley: The critic calls the film funny and exhilarating, praising its frenetic style, profane voiceover, and the bold decision to have the real band members play themselves. She singles out how it effectively captures the cultural and political fight to keep the Irish language alive through hip-hop. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/kneecap-film-review-2024) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw: The fictionalised origin story of the Irish-language rap group is one of the funniest and most energising films of the year. The profane, political mix and the band's charismatic performances stand out. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/aug/24/kneecap-review-one-of-the-funniest-films-of-the-year-rich-peppiatt-michael-fassbender-belfast) - **The New York Times**, Beatrice Loayza: The critic describes the film as a gleefully chaotic quasi-biopic that casts the band members as tall-tale heroes. She singles out its solid case for connecting the struggles of Irish speakers to broader resistance movements. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/movies/kneecap-review.html) - **The Telegraph**: The film is a riotous, anarchically fun comedy that mixes the Troubles with Trainspotting energy. It succeeds as a love letter to the Irish language and a portrait of post-ceasefire youth, elevated by the band's performances. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/kneecap-review-northern-ireland/) - **NME**, Andrew Trendell (5/5): The critic calls it one of the best music biopics ever made and unapologetically ballsy and brave. They single out the band's own performances and the film's blend of humor, heart, and political edge for particular praise. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/kneecap-film-review-biopic-michael-fassbender-3779661) - **Polygon**, Austen Goslin (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it the best music biopic of the year, praising the hilarious dialogue, excellent performances by the real band members, and the electric concert sequences that give the film the energy of a concert film. It highlights the film's points about Irish-language culture and revitalization. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/what-to-watch/486523/kneecap-netflix-movie-rap-irish-watch-streaming/) - **HeyUGuys**, Nathan McVay (85/100, inferred): An inventively crafted, frantically paced and adrenaline-pumping ride that is one of the biggest surprises at Sundance. The performances from the actual band members are mind-blowing and the film is accessible and entertaining while touching on serious issues. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/kneecap-review/) - **The Wrap** (85/100, inferred): The film audaciously upends the musical biopic genre with its high-energy mix of humor, drugs, and Irish-language rap performed by the real band members. It singles out the creative visuals and defiant tone for turning clichés into something fresh and inspiring. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/kneecap-review-music-comedy/) - **Deadline**, Stephanie Bunbury (80/100, inferred): The film delights with its raucous energy as the real-life band members play heightened versions of themselves in a docudrama that celebrates their defiant hip-hop and Irish-language activism. It singles out the band's bold, irreverent style and drug-fueled antics for making the story an entertaining cultural statement. [Read](https://deadline.com/2024/12/kneecap-review-ireland-oscar-entry-1236192752/) - **The Playlist**, Marshall Shaffer (80/100, inferred): Peppiatt energetically captures a nation still disagreeing with itself and focuses on nationalism's unifying potential to save an endangered heritage. The direction matches the rappers' restless energy with an eclectic and energetic toolkit of cinematic techniques. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/kneecap-review-a-raucous-rebellious-tribute-to-the-rappers-fighting-for-the-irish-language-sundance-20240125/) - **Collider**, Chase Hutchinson (6/10): The critic finds it a solid but conventional musical biopic that captures the authentic energy of the trio but is hampered by the stiff inclusion of Michael Fassbender and rote plotting. It praises the film's heightened sense of the past and the main trio's performances. [Read](https://collider.com/kneecap-movie-review/) - **Eye for Film**, Andrew Robertson: The film is briskly paced and flies by with authentic language, musicality and politics; the trio acquit themselves tremendously well. It doesn't matter how much is true as long as it's a good story, and Kneecap has more than a leg to stand on. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/kneecap-2024-film-review-by-andrew-robertson) - **Film Stories**, Maria Lattila: Peppiatt's unconventional music biopic is a riotous middle finger to misconceptions about Northern Ireland and an unusual, intoxicatingly funny film. The central trio's performances are fearless and the film mixes action, musical and comedy elements in a bold, energetic way. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/kneecap-review-rich-peppiatts-music-biopic-is-refreshingly-unique/) ## Details - **Director:** Rich Peppiatt - **Director:** Rich Peppiatt - **Writer:** Rich Peppiatt - **Story:** Rich Peppiatt, Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, DJ Próvaí - **Cinematography:** Ryan Kernaghan - **Editor:** Julian Ulrichs, Chris Gill - **Music:** Michael Asante - **Production design:** Nicola Moroney - **Costume design:** Zjena Glamočanin - **Producer:** Jack Tarling, Trevor Birney - **Cast:** Móglaí Bap as Móglaí Bap or Naoise; Mo Chara as Mo Chara or Liam Óg; DJ Próvaí as DJ Próvai or JJ; Josie Walker as Detective Ellis; Fionnuala Flaherty as Caitlin; Jessica Reynolds as Georgia; Adam Best as Doyle; Simone Kirby as Dolores - **Runtime:** 1h 45m - **First release (the US):** 18 January 2024 - **Genres:** Music, Comedy, Drama - **Box office:** $4 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFYfp-hKxZQ ## Where to watch in Norway - Amazon Prime Video: rent kr 39.00, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy kr 79.00, hd *Checked 2026-09-10.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BG, BR, CA, CL, CO, FR, GB, IE, IT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, RS, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 2024: Best International Feature Film (nominated) - European University Film Award 2024: European University Film Award (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Good Vibrations* (2013): Belfast, punk and a record shop; the same city, a generation earlier and just as loud - *Trainspotting* (1996), Fi1m 88: The film Kneecap is openly borrowing from; still faster and funnier than its imitators — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/trainspotting.md) - *The Commitments* (1991), Fi1m 82: Dublin lads form a soul band and fall out; the gigs still carry it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-commitments.md) - *La Haine* (1995), Fi1m 90: Three friends, one day, the police at every turn; hip-hop and the estates in black and white — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/la-haine.md) - *Derry Girls* (2018), Fi1m 83: Northern Irish teenagers who refuse to treat the Troubles with any solemnity at all — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/derry-girls.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/kneecap