Review of 24 Hour Party People (2002) by Andrew C — 31 Dec 2009

Truthfully, one of my favorite movies of all time.

24 Hour Party People portrays a music scene few Americans are aware of, but is accessible to more than just the fans. As post-punk morphs into dance/house music, we are taken along with Steve Coogan as he plays the head of a record label trying to keep it all together.

Coogan's acting is brilliant, and the decision to focus the sequence of events throughout the movie on him, which covers about a fifteen year period, lends the storytelling stability and coherence that would have been lost if the focus was just on the music. We watch as he works with Joy Division in its earliest years, only to watch it disintegrate after the suicide of Ian Curtis and reform as New Order. Out goes post-punk, in comes house music, and Coogan struggles to give birth to the club scene. We watch him stumble, then succeed, then succeed far too well, then ultimately to be brought down by excess.

Highlights of this movie include: Coogan's constant insistence that he does not do coke, only to start doing coke, Coogan's vision of God (portrayed by Coogan) who answers Coogan's questons of what he did wrong with the quip "You probably should've signed The Smiths," and all the good music the movie pays homage too.

Whether or not you are a fan of the Manchester scene, this movie will keep you hooked. And if you know nothing about the music at all, it will fill you in without bludgeoning you with detail.