24 Hour Party People Reviews

Madchester!

As a student in the 1980's I remember the Factory Records phenomena and was a passionate fan (still am) of Joy Division and New Order and this film was 2 hours of nostalgia heaven for me. Everything seemed to blend and work well. The actors (especially Danny Cunningham as Shaun Ryder and John Simm as Bernie Sumner) bore an uncanny resemblence to their characters physically and Steve Coogan has never been better. Move over Alan Partridge and Paul Calf. A special mention must also go to Frank Cottrill Boyce's script for it's authenticity and the ever excellent Robby Muller's photography for it's grimy views of Manchester. I also think Michael Winterbottom has not made a finer film.

Yet it's the music that makes the film.For Brits like myself it's like time travel. For anyone else it's a chance to learn the story behind some of the best music of the 80's and how 'Madchester' became 'Gunchester'. The film doesn't sugarcoat everything. The gang warfare in Manchester was frightening and the film conveys the decline of the Hacienda well. There are no Hollywood happy endings here, no stars. It's often unflinching but is so unmistakably British and so well acted it should and deserves to do well in America. One film everyone must see this year. No film is perfect but this one comes bloody close.

Good if you were there

Good film and Coogan is in fine form as Tony Wilson. If you like the music, then it's a good film with plenty of laughs.

Fascinating for anyone with an interest in music

This film tells the story of Factory Records and the Hacienda club through a mixture of documentary-style footage, drama and tongue-in-cheek, post-modern narration to camera by various characters, all the time aware that they can only present a version of events and that things may not have happened the way they seem to on screen.

A brilliant, hilarious, ironic film. Steve Coogan is perfectly cast as Tony Wilson, playing him as visionary and buffoon. One of the funniest and most telling moments is when god appears to him in his own image on the roof.

I loved this film! Contrary to what many other reviewers have said, you do not need to have been there or even have heard of the bands featured - I didn't know much about Joy Division before this film, but I do now! It spent a little too long with the Happy Mondays who aren't quite as interesting as New Order, but otherwise the way the film charts the changing styles of music from punk to dance is fascinating for anyone with an interest in music.

This is an absolute gem. Possibly Michael Winterbottom's best film. Steve Coogan plays Tony Wilson and shines. Wilson seems to be more than willing to have his characterisation presented playfully and the film is full of humour, poignancy and insight. Fantastically constructed as the narrative drifts from first person to standard, from bizarre visual effects to an almost social realism. Great performances, a fantastic script, brilliant music and a right good laugh. Top notch, right up there as one of the best British films (at least in contemporary terms)

24 hour

Very good film about one of the most important stages of u.k music in the last 20 years, funny informative and with a top cast

..... HEY YOU GET OFF OF MY SHOW .... (anyone remember that ??)

This film started in 1976 with the Pistols first playing Manchester and ended in 1992 with the fall of the Haicenda and the death of Acid House.

This in microcosm is my basic problem with the film - it tried to tell us too much !!

Less a serious critique of the contribution Factory Records made to popular culture, this film is more satisfactorily seen as a personal exploration of what 'Post-punk Manchester/Madchester' meant to the film maker. Great nostalgia (and doesn't that make you feel old !) crap history.

Having Tony Wilson as the 'narrator' over-played his part to the detriment of what we see here as the 'lesser players'. The Joy Divison sequence was interesting but didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. Ian Curtis has always been an enigma and no attempt was made to explore beyond the myth.

The Mondays sequence was quite frankly embarrassing. The acing was woeful and every 'urban legend' surrounding the band was dutifully trotted out as so much fodder for the lads.

Chuck in a few spaced out visuals for the Haicenda shots later in the film, Coogan playing Tony Wilson as a rather pretentious Alan Partridge, a lot of swearing, some bullsh*t spoon-fed understanding of the development of rave culture and there you have it: an homogenised antiseptic re-telling of a potential fascinating story.

2 stars for the music though !! (it would have been 3 if there was less ACR and Vinni Reilly) !!!!!!!!!!

Well made comedy with great music

This is a gem that apparently breezed right by most people, getting a brief art-house run and little of the considerable attention it deserves. From the opening ``Icarus'' sequence to the end, it confounds expectations, generates big laughs and propels itself with great music. (The soundtrack CD is quite good as well.) Highly recommended.

Pointless extra

There was no point in sending this as a bonus disc. The first disc I recieved had the film with loads of exras as well. The second disc only had the film and a few trailers for other movies. It might have made more sense to send them the other way round, but actually it would have made the most sense to send just the one with the extras on it and not bother sending the other out at all. Good film though, and especially worth seeing if you were into the whole Manchester music scene when it happened.

Epic, classic, beautiful, sad, funny, inspirational, - The list of adjectives is endless

This is quite simply the most beautiful story ever told via the medium of film. Or so it has you believing. You may have noticed where I am from (see above) and I can tell you that I am a huge of the music that this story features but this does not in any way give me any bias towards the quality of the film - the film is inarguably stunning to any fan of film or fan of quality. It works on many, many levels, so many that i will not waste our precious time trying to identify them all, this time should be spent clicking RENT THIS MOVIE, RENT THIS MOVIE, you simply must RENT THIS MOVIE. Have I not convinced you? Well I suppose all the convincing you need is in the film itself so do yourself a favour and enrich your life, because I guarantee that this film will have a permanent effect on you, it certainly has on me.

Could have been done better!

I think this would have been better if the story was told as a proper film, rather than a biographical approach. There wasn't enough New Order and there was too much about Sean Ryder. Steve Coogan was good; other people's acting left a lot to be desired - it seemed to be an excuse to get people into the film who were mildly famous and can't act!