 Steve Coogan comes alive in this film about Madchester Director: Michael Winterbottom Cast: Steve Coogan, Lennie James, Shirley Henderson, Paddy Considine, John Simm, Danny Cunningham, Ralf Little, Sean Harris Length: 117 minutes Release date: 5 April 2002 |  |  |
 Steve Coogan plays the notorious Tony Wilson | | Manchester, 1976. The life of Granada TV presenter Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) changes forever when he sees a little-known band called the Sex Pistols. |
 | | Reviewed by Jamie Russell
Overnight he sets up New Wave label Factory Records and signs up his first group, Joy Division.
Fast forward to 1988. Yellow smiley faces have replaced the flares and there's a non-stop cry of "aciiiieed!" in the air.
Manchester has become "Mad-chester" and the face of pop music has been changed forever.
 Brilliantly realised and hilariously funny, 24 Hour Party People is great fun. Don't miss it.
 | | Jamie Russell,
reviewer |
Michael Winterbottom's digital video film about the rise and fall of Factory Records charts the ups and downs of a whole era of music, from 1976 to 1992, with spectacular results.
This isn't some dry rockumentary, though - it's an irreverent musical-comedy extravaganza that follows the course of British pop from New Wave to rave, like some demented version of Monty Python meets Top of the Pops.
Taking an irreverent scattergun approach Winterbottom squeezes literally everything of importance into the film: Joy Division singer Ian Curtis' death, the opening of the Haçienda, the arrival of the Happy Mondays and the collapse of Factory Records' business empire.
|  | The rave scene in 1980's, Manchester. |
It's a wonderful nostalgia trip, full of comic asides. Coogan plays Tony Wilson superbly, offering lots of straight-to-camera monologues and bitchy comments. This is enriched by a host of cameos from some of the real movers and shakers of the Manchester scene.
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