The Commitments (1991)

Dubliner Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins) decides it's his destiny to manage a successful band, but first he has to find the members. When they're together their egos clash like ships in a storm, but on stage they ignite, drawing upon their working class backgrounds to put the 'soul' back into soul music.
Alan parker turned Roddy Doyle's 1987 novel into a film with his usual level of verve. At almost two hours the pace does occasionally dip, but the dialogue is always excellent and the characters remain utterly believable, helped perhaps by most of them being real musicians and not actors at all.
If you want a primer on what it is to be Irish, you need look no further.

4 mock conversations with Terry Wogan out of 5