Pirate Radio - Too Bad Nobody Went Down with this Ship

I appreciate that the Harbinger (http://iccharbinger.com) is trying to catch up the website during the break, but there has to be something more important that Daughtry's October show in Peoria to dominate the entertainment section.

But, they did choose to publish this review for "The Boat That Rocked" instead of "Assassination of a High School President," so it maybe said that I didn't offer anything for the month of November to dethrone the Idol Poser.

Rotten Tomatoes

“Pirate Radio” is a picture that is nothing more than subplots without substance that allow for fine British actors and Philip Seymour Hoffman to act cheeky. Richard Curtis’s film is non-trippy images to a classic rock soundtrack. Somehow this does not seem to be the fit way of presenting these songs, and the story does not make up for the mistreatment.

In 1966, British radio refused to play rock music, so only “pirate ships” anchored around the country could air it. The government is not too fond of not being in control of it, so Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) is on a crusade to shut these stations down. This larger story takes a backseat to focus on the experiences of Young Carl (Tom Sturridge), an eighteen year Englishman and his experiences on the Radio Rock boat owned by his godfather (Bill Nighy).

In turn, this story is pushed aside so that everyone in the cast can have a story that explains who they are with no intention of being relative to any of the larger premises. Thus, “The Boat the Rocked,” the film’s title in the UK which was also changed to “Good Morning England” in France and “Radio Rock Revolution” in Germany, is filled with a lot of humorous scenes that features characters one can laugh at, but not relate to.

It is a picture that offers many opportunities for people in the audience to say, “I know a guy just like that at this one bar.” The audience at it’s opening Sunday’s 9:20 pm showing at Willow Knolls 14 was only one individual.

There can be no complaints made toward the actors. They are given limited roles, and fulfill the requirements of them. With a story that refuses to do anything with these characters, it ends up being a complete waste of talent. This should be a crime to any fan of British cinema.

Characters that have a part in the grand scheme of the film were the biggest strengths of Curtis’s other directorial effort, “Love Actually.” Each subplot in “Radio” plays out, and is then forgotten. Without giving an amount of time that would be worthy of master thespian Branagh’s story, the larger plot does nothing more that serve as a cigarette burn, an indication to the audience that there is a change in subplots. At least in “Love Actually,” Curtis was smart enough to not climax any of the subplots to the third act.

As for the direction, it seems to have been ripped straight from the transition scenes in the”Austin Powers” trilogy. In an attempt to show that the radio station affected the majority of Great Britain supported the station, there are constant cuts away from the story. Very few of these cuts add to the fun of the picture because unlike the “Powers” films, they apparently lack a sense of humor.

“Pirate Radio” is a poorly constructed film that tortures the audience. Eventually, the funny tales in it become monotonous, and the viewer is just waiting for the film to end. If anything captured the feeling of the season of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” that John Cleese was not on, Richard Curtis’s film does so.

IMDb