24 Hour Party People

Starring:Steve Coogan, John Thomson, Nigel Pivaro, Lennie James, Shirley Henderson, Martin Hancock, Mark Windows, Chris Coghill, Paddy Considine, John Simm, Ralf Little, Dave Gorman, Andy Serkis, Danny Cunningham, Paul Popplewell, Ron Cook, Raymond Waring, Peter Kay, Mark E. Smith, Naomi Radcliffe
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

An ingenious docudrama on the Manchester music scene of the 1980s and '90s. 24 Hour Party People traces the rise and fall of bands like Joy Division, New Order, and Happy Mondays--bands whose success in the U.S. was limited, but whose impact in Europe (and England in particular) was phenomenal. It all centers around the record label that spawned these bands, Factory Records, and its impresario Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan), a man both ludicrous in his self-absorption and brilliant in his willingness to go out on a limb for bands he likes. Coogan, a British comic, gives a remarkable and deeply funny performance that manages to be simultaneously sincere and ironic. The movie communicates what was great about this time without any false majesty--the squalor and disasters are as crucial to this portrait as the wild successes. The soundtrack, of course, is superb. --Bret Fetzer

Description

"Magnificent" (The New York Times), "amazing" (Los Angeles Times) and "a blast" (Rolling Stone), this true story of the raucous anti-establishment explosion that revolutionized the music industry is "miraculous one of the smartest, liveliest, most engaging and involving works you're likely to see this year" (Premiere)! Blown away by an unknown local band called the Sex Pistols, TV personality Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) is inspired to invent a uniquely anarchic record label. Soon he's promoting everyone from New Order to Happy Mondays on his newly formed Factory Records and partying like a rock star. From Tony's speedy rise to Factory's hedonistic fall, this "wonderful party of a movie stamps on a smiley face that will stay with you for hours" (New York Post)!

Customer Reviews:

Great concept - interesting contrast of Londinium and Mamchester, as Tony might've said ;).......2007-05-28

It was a fine idea to cover the period from the punks to rave thru the looking glass of Tony Wilson and the Hacienda.

It's a shame the bands themselves took such a back seat to the personality of Wilson, the narrator. The most colorful and interesting moment in his narrative is made-up (as the film itself confesses) and the wider musical impact of the bands is down played.

With the unremitting grimness of Manchester, the world's first industrial city and despite, as Wilson points out, Rolls Royce, the first modern computer and the bouncing bomb (he could've added splitting the atom too) the major achievement was that the film was made at all.

As the Episode with London records in the movie underlines, the cultural industry is centered on London and is loathe to recognise anything beyond that. Musicians with success typically gravitate to London and with further success to NYC or LA. Manchester's musicians stayed at home.

Perhaps this is a reflection of their working class origins, rather a contrast to the typical London star, a product of elite schools and universities. Michael Jagger, an economist by training, was defended in his early career by no less than the Archbishop of Canterbury. His band is one of the most succesful corporations in the UK. David Bowie's catalog is a Wall Street Bond offering...

Manchester's story is not the usual rags to riches to rags, rather rags to rags to rags. Perhaps like Manchester's technology, appropriated to Lowell , Massachussets, driving the American Industrial Revolution, the real success is in world influence and not in dollars and cents, so much the focus of the London scene, as epitomized by the Spice Girls and their ilk.

Huge entertainment!.......2007-01-11

A mandatory item for New Order fans like me.
Nothing else is necessary to be said. Just watch it!

Good if you are familiar with the music........2005-12-23

This film is very good if you are into Factory as a whole. If you are watching it just for one band, don't. You will find yourself disappointed.

Thoroughly Entertaining.......2005-11-09

This is a really good movie with an excellent excellent screenplay. The movie begins with the birth of punk, when a small roomful of people were fortunate enough to catch the Sex Pistols when they first came out, changing the course of music, and ends with the death of acid. As Tony Wilson puts it in the film, it is the "story of Manchester," that begins when a group of young and idealistic local boys decide to screw London and its record companies and start producing their own records out of Manchester, and boy, has music history benefited from this decision. It's interesting to note that as these young lads on the forefront of the music scene in Manchester began to age, they become less idealistic as they were in their youth, and more acknowledging of reality and its limits. My only complaint is that I wish the movie could have had more on Joy Division and New Order, than on the Happy Mondays. Why did Tony Wilson ever sign a band that came in last place in Manchester's Battle of the Bands??? The casting for this movie is outstanding, as well.

Two big thumbs up.

P.S. I don't know why they used the cover that they did for the DVD. It really has nothing to do with the film.

Brilliant!.......2005-09-01

As a fan of New Order and Joy Division this was on the top of my list. Fast-paced, witty, and shot in documentary like style, 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE is a great movie along side the more traditional narratives like GO, ALL GONE PETE TONG, GROOVE, etc. Winderbottom does a terrific job in satisfying a range of audience and Steve Coogan is terrific. The soundtrack is solid and the produciton value is high. Not to be missed by fans (not ultimate fans) and general movie goers alike.

Average customer rating:

Great concept - interesting contrast of Londinium and Mamchester, as Tony might've said ;)
Huge entertainment!
Good if you are familiar with the music.
Thoroughly Entertaining
Brilliant!

24 Hour Party People [Region 2]
Starring: Steve Coogan , John Thomson , Nigel Pivaro , Lennie James , and Shirley Henderson
Director: Michael Winterbottom
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0000DK4RL