24 Hour Party People (2002)

British director Michael Winterbottom is a fascinating artist. Even his choice of films is odd. He’s done drama, science fiction and comedy. But when he’s doing comedy he smartly teams up with Steve Coogan. This is a semi-fictional retelling of Tony Wilson, reporter and music promoter, and how he helped support Manchester's music scene from the late ‘70s all the way to the ‘90s. The improvisational nature of the film doesn’t always work but the overall feel is that you’re watching a badly edited documentary. I enjoyed it but mostly because of Coogan’s performance, not the music history. If you like this music then you’ll probably be even more entertained than I was. Grade: B+