Movie #95- "24 Hour Party People" (2002)

"I'm a minor player in my own life story."  So goes one of the many marvelous quotes from "24 Hour Party People".  As I've stated before, I enjoy movies that center around music, especially if the music happens to be from the late 70s or 80s (that time in life when I was expanding my musical horizons).  The focus is Tony Wilson and the foundation, and later failure, of Factory Records.  Factory was the label that would be home to Joy Division (later New Order) along with the Happy Mondays. 
What makes this movie fun is the freewheeling spirit in which the story is presented.  It's very tongue-in-cheek, often using unsubstantiated anecdotes as part of the narrative.  One example features a claim that Howard Devoto had sex with Wilson's wife, then the next scene has the real Devoto, playing a janitor, debunking the story.  The film tosses in several brief cameos by some of the musicians and players from the era, including Mark E. Smith from the Fall, the above mentioned Devoto, as well as Wilson himself. 
But the major plus of "24 Hour Party People" is Steve Coogan as Wilson.  Coogan daftly moves from scene to scene like a merry tour guide taking your through the crazy world he has helped create.  There is such joy in his performance that you get lost in the truths and fabrications.  Not only does the film focus on Factory, but it also uses Wilson's occupation as a journalist for an added comic touch. 
However, the film loses a little steam in the later years of Factory, although personally that may be because of my musical preference (more a Joy Division fan than the Happy Mondays). And also, the carefree nature of the film doesn't really provide the right tone for the death of Ian Curtis.  With those point aside, I wish more films about rock music would adopt this attitude of anarchy.

Rating: 8/10
Movies I've previously seen: 6
First time viewings: 89