Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club.
It's inaccurate to pin Manchester's rise as a musical mecca wholly on one person, but Wilson makes for a fascinating character study, and he's drolly played by Coogan.
– Evelyn McDonnell,
Miami Herald,
30 Aug 2002
fresh:
Even if you have never heard of the Mondays, whose members swiftly self-destructed in Ecstasy and excess, or of Tony Wilson, the entrepreneur the film is about, you may find yourself drawn into the vortex created by director Michael Winterbottom.
– Terry Lawson,
Detroit Free Press,
30 Aug 2002
fresh:
A real party, but it's hard to keep track of the guests.
– Eleanor Ringel Gillespie,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
31 Aug 2002
fresh:
Coogan, as the consummate overeducated, overly-erudite opinion leader, is spot-on perfect.
– Roger Moore,
Orlando Sentinel,
19 Sep 2002
fresh:
How much you enjoy 24 Hour Party People, director Michael Winterbottom's raucous look at the Manchester, England music scene of the '80s, probably depends on your background.