Rating: 
Summary: the 80s in a box; unexploited
Review: When one thinks of or hears of the 80s, one is confronted with ghastly images of tacky idiocy, slithering girls with garish side ponytails, and the origination of the dreadful manufactured boy band. Much of this did occur, obviously, but what is left behind when referencing the period is the immediate effects left from punk, and the unspecific shift from the artist to the dj.
24 Hour Party People merges equal parts documentary with drama, creating a refreshing and innovative approach to material very often ignored. Beginning with deconstructed opening titles, the film spends time examining the experience of punk, its after affects, and the gradual introduction of the rave culture. Steve Coogan delivers a truly great performance as the real Tony Wilson, charmingly arrogant tv-presenter, manager, and Cambridge graduate. Wilson, admitting his role miniscule in comparison to the significance of bands like Joy Division, or a `minor character in my own life story', is presented as a character cognizant of a documentary occurring around him, frequently speaking to the audience, pausing to expose the future outcome of events depicted onscreen, and making sure it is realized that it is a dramatic rather than true documentary. The actual Wilson appears in the film momentarily, covered with a narration by Coogan that specifies the intentionally heightened nature of the film; "But I agree with John Ford; "when you have to choose between the truth and the legend, print the legend."
Kinetically shot by Robert Muller, the film has a certain appealing mood to it, and the remarkable thing about his work on the film is the employment of and attempted recreation of stock footage. Stock footage is used in the film, but is often surrounded by what appears to be stock footage, actually grainy film shot through lenses with intentional imperfections. Acting here is completely exceptional on all fronts, almost creepily so, and is a testament to the efficiency and greatness of Michael Winterbottom, who handles the film in the most refreshing way possible.
A journey into independent pop culture and the Manchester music scene, this film is so captivating flaws are excused. It remains interesting, hilarious, and well-executed even as the narrative momentum begins to dwindle in the third act, and a certain lethargic quality becomes present as characters and the world around them begins to burn out. This is thankfully saved as the character envisions God as himself, and the charm of the film is restored before the great credits roll, giving the audience the incentive needed to leave the theatre with a smile.
Rating: 
Summary: Happy Happy Joy Joy
Review: "24 Hour Party People" was among the most entertaining motion pictures released in 2002, and easily one of the most engaging and innovative films that I've seen in years. Although certainly not for everyone, if you've an interest in the music industry, the UK indie scene, and/or Factory Records (of course) then this is mandatory viewing material.I'll not bore you with a summary of the plot...but it's no secret that there's almost as much fiction as fact in this comedic, documentary-style account of Tony Wilson and his legendary Factory record label. However, there are numerous exceptional portrayals of the central figures from Factory's sordid history, and the city of Manchester is a star in itself, functioning as the drab backdrop to the movie's colorful story. The DVD has two featurettes - a ten minute 'behind the scenes' piece (obligatory for almost all DVD releases) and a five minute quickie about the real Tony Wilson. Neither contain particularly engrossing content but they're welcome just the same. There are eleven deleted scenes, only a couple of which are really worth a toss (ironically, the cut scene with Vini Reilly that Steve Coogan's Tony Wilson actually references in the film isn't even included). There's a photo gallery with at least 40 stills taken during the film's production, although including pictures of the real people and places depicted in the movie would have made more sense. I've not listened to the running commentary by the real Tony Wilson or his celluloid facsimile, but I understand that both are enlightening. With the exception of the James Bond series, MGM Home Video is notorious for lacking in the special features sections of their DVD releases, so this product is actually commendable on their part. Of course, the UK DVD release of "24HPP" (complete with a Factory catalog number - FACDVD 424) is a 2-disc set packed with extras vastly superior to what's offered to us poor Yanks. So while I'd give the film five stars, the DVD rates only three, thus my average of four stars overall.
Rating:
Summary: Winterbottom mesmerizes and entertains on highest level...
Review: 24 Hour Party People is a drama-comedy-documentary that displays the roots of the Manchester club, The Hacienda, which was the undisputed birthplace of rave. Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) is a well educated TV personality who runs a small talk show that presents unknown bands and odd leisure activities. Tony is also a big enthusiast of progressive music as he attends small shows by the Six Pistols and other big time stars before their break through. This leads Steve to form a record company, Factory Records, with some friends that will help him promote unknown artists in the best interests of the artists and not the company. The owners of Factory Records build The Hacienda in order to further their stars' success, but the club also begins to form its own drug culture as the new music attracts a young audience. This culture is also known as rave. 24 Hour Party People is a witty take on how 20 years of music development in Manchester created a subculture that has been given large amounts of attention due to its link to drugs. Winterbottom directs a well written story that mesmerizes and entertains on all levels as it provides notions of large and small proportions that offer food for thought leaving the audience with an excellent cinematic event.
Rating: 
Summary: Flashy and energetic Brit film with style to burn
Review: 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE is ANOTHER movie David ... ranted about in one of his daft press releases. Thankfully, the press seems to be clicking on to the fact that the SPCS are ignorant fools and ignoring them. (Really, you're better off asking for MY opinion, "jackbooted liberal" that I am. Ain't it so,Davey and Gordon?) Steve Coogan is in fine form as Tony Wilson, a British music show presenter. This stylish docu-dramatic movie recounts his experiences as he is caught in the changing climate of the Manchester music scene. From the late 70s punk of the Sex Pistols and Siouxie And The Banshees to the 80s New Wave poppycock of Joy Division, who later had to change their name to New Order because their previous band name had links to Nazi Germany. Among the predictable sex and drugs malarkey are some humorous scenes; notably a little person ...I mean MIDGET, cleaning elephants at a zoo as well as a cute scene of a duck herding sheep. Of course being a movie about music, sex and drugs are obligatory. A rock movie wouldn't be the same without it, unless it's a bio of The Osmonds or The Partridge Family. 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE is a clever, humorous film well worth seeing.
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Rating:
Summary: Interesting documentary-like approach
Review: 24 Hour Party People is not your usual film fare. It tells the true story of the birth of punk music in Manchester, England in an almost documentary approach. That technique is what makes this film work. I'm not a big punk music fan, and the whole culture surrounding it is strange to me, not something I could ever get into, but through the use of the character/narrator Tony Wilson (played by Steve Coogan), this strange world is clearly explained in a humorous but honest commentary. As Wilson interacts with characters in the 70s through 90s, he occasionally breaks the fourth wall and talks to the audience from a present-day perspective, in a way providing that 20-20 hind-sight everyone has long after the fact. What this film achieves the most in, however, is the way it blends documentary footage into the film. The whole thing is filmed with a hand-held camera in such a fashion that you almost are fooled into thinking it is a documentary, at least, until Wilson breaks that fourth wall again to remind you. It's a great technique that sets this movie apart from others based on true events. The only real flaw is how time passes without the film ever really letting on. It begins in 1976, and after what feels like a few months, suddenly its 1980. Then, the film continues in what feels like a few years, but when the end title cards come up, it says it's 1997. No one visually aged, and no time cards ever let me know what year it was. For those that already know the story, I'm sure they weren't confused, but it is confusing for those not familiar with it. Still, 24 Hour Party People is really for those who were a part of that era, the fans of punk music. It's not a film I would eagerly sit and watch over and over, but those interested in this subject likely would. This one is highly recommend to 80s punk fans, and is worth checking out for those who love film experiments.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, smart, and entertaining
Review: 24hr party people is simply an amazing movie about tony wilson and his exposure of punk rock to the people of manchester, Not only did this movie make me laugh, but it was also very cool, learning new things about some of the great bands of the past, i strongly suggest you go out and purchase this film, Music lovers, and people who enjoy good movies , should really look into this film cause its a masterpeice from beginning to end
Rating:
Summary: Dance dance dance dance dance to the radio
Review: 24hr party people purports to show the rise and fall of post-punk and the beginnings of rave culture in Manchester, England at the end of the seventies, start of the eighties. It makes an admirable attempt to do this, but it fails in many, many ways.
First of all, the story is too big to be seen through the eyes of one person (Tony Wilson, founder of the admirable Factory records collective), especially someone who is primarily so self-confessedly concerned with his place in history. Tony Wilson did not create rave, and this film surely overplays his role in the founding of the scene. By focussing in on this one label we lose a lot of the historical context, and the movie's habit of skipping years doesn' t help the flow of the narrative either.
Secondly, the movie also sacrifices a large amount of narrative flow for the sake of cinematic continuity. While I have always been a huge fan of Joy Division, and know a fair bit about the Factory records story, I feel that people without a fair smattering of this background knowledge would've been lost in the sheer number of rapidly rotating characters, skipped years and seemingly unlinked events that all add up to the movie's climax.
While the broad scope of the movie can be blamed for these mistakes, the director and writers are also culpable for other issues. I love Steve Coogan - he's a great comedian and a great actor, but he gets waaay too much screen time here, and way too many direct-to-camera monologues that occur outside of the historical flow of the film, and end up seeming self-serving and gratuitous.
The movie also makes no attempt to develop the characters in the movie beyond a brief introduction. Tony Wilson's motives for trying to create an anarchist-collectve record label are never explained, nor is there ever even any discussion of why his partners go along with it, especially as they spend large parts of the end of the movie trying to kill him. Why did Ian Curtis kill himself? Why is Shaun Ryder such a mess? Why is Martin Hannett considered a "genius" when his sole contribution to the movie is to insult all the bands and irritate everybody he comes into contact with? The section on the rise of the drug-culture in the Hacienda also seem to have been written by Tony Wilson to excuse himself from wrong-doing, reading like a brief about to be submitted to a judge, "It wasn't my fault gov!".
All in all i think more impartiality would've helped this film. More judgement, more character, more heroes and villans would've made it a better movie. More focus just on the Factory records experiment would've made it easier to digest, and less of the no-talent (...) clowns known as the Happy Mondays would've made the entire thing more palatable.
If you like the music, watch the film. If you don't know the background read some of the books about the period instead. 24 hour party people contains some good moments, but I'm not sure I'd sit through it again to see them...
Rating:
Summary: Manic Mancs
Review: a great deal of fun - overwrought, hackneyed, loud, indulgent, hazy, much like a Friday night in Fallowfield. Coogan is cooly cheesy, the lads who play JD and the Mondays are great - esp Ryder and Hook - and the space in between is filled with the shady, upstart conmen one might imagine in a grimy postindustrial utopia. Purists, sadists, and basically anybody with no sense of humor or fun will complain endlessly. (this is an impression - Tony Wilson's no less - not a documentary). most everyone else will be pleased.
Rating:
Summary: Snaps, Crackles, and Pops!
Review: A movie that is as fun as it's trailers make it out to be. Following Steve Coogan through this story is utter joy. May be a tad over-long, but that is being really, really nitpicky. Go ahead and enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyed the music, but hated the movie.
Review: After hearing such positive buzz about "24 Hour Party People" I decided to give the film a chance without knowing anything about it. Let me just tell you, I was bored to tears. I like 80s music, I grew up in the 80s so obviusly I love it, but this is a horrible film, and it's only redeaming quality is the good music, which by the way is shown only in very breif segements. Anyone that likes structure or a real story please avoid this film at all costs.
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