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24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE Send This Review to a Friend
How you take to "24 Hour Party People" may depend partly on how you take to its music. But even if the punk trend of the 1970s and the post-punk period are not your favorites (they aren't mine), you can enjoy much of this historical ode to impresario Tony Wilson, Factory Records and the once popular Hacienda Club. Steve Coogan gives a lively ego-driven portrait of Wilson through his ups and downs, and director Michael Winterbottom, working from Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay, infuses the film with enough energy to make those Manchester days come vividly alive and music vibrant enough to make your eardrums know where they're at.
Even though Wilson is depicted as trying to protect the purity of his vision, there is plenty of excess, whether materially or spiritually. The film traces the story to 1976 when Wilson hears a then unknown group called the Sex Pistols. Inspiration strikes and Wilson and his buddies set off on their great adventure, leading to the creation of the renowned record label and the club that became a must in its time. As with most ups there are usually downs, and the financial over-extensions, the ways of human nature and the march of time eventually plague Wilson and his company.
There is considerable humor as well as angst and sadness in "24 Hour Party People," as the narration from Wilson's point of view attempts perspective on all that happened through the years. Some of the situations are funny and counterpoint the drama, tragedy and indulgences in drugs and sex that aren't much different from those depicted in other films about the rise and fall of stars and bands. But this is a film with a broad sweep telling--and celebrating--a big story that spans the 1970s to the early 1990s, and it is jammed with a large cast of characters and a soundtrack to match. Only a party pooper could totally resist the drive and passion of "24 Hour Party People." A United Artists release
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