Pirate Radio
I forgot this movie actually had a different title when I first saw a trailer for this. (It was “The Boat That Rocked.”)
The title this was released with sounds better anyway- I don’t really remember what the original one was. Writer-director Richard Curtis has gone away from the rom-com genre that made him famous (“Love Actually,” “Notting Hill”) to bring this scrappy and funny true story of rock-playing rebels on the high seas to the masses.
Leading the rebellion are Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the Count- the American DJ who spins on Radio Rock- and the superb Bill Nighy as Quentin, the station’s main moneyman. The charge from the government is led by bureaucrat Sir Alistair Dormandy, played with arch villainy by Kenneth Branagh, who has his assistants- including one actually named Twatt (Jack Davenport).
Admittedly, Curtis- who also wrote “Four Weddings and a Funeral”- takes his sweet time with things, as we are introduced to life on the rockin’ high seas by Quentin’s Godson Carl (Tom Sturridge), who learns some hard truths about life and love while the ’60s counter-culture lives large on the boat.
Still, the result is sexy (lots of hot young girls being bad, listening to Rock Radio in sexy outfits) and memorably funny as the boys on the ship do their best to keep Britain rocking under government pressure. And while the big names on the cast are the film’s captains, we also get funny and frisky work out of Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans, January Jones, and Ralph Brown (as mysterious nightman Bob). And then there’s the music, which brings it all home with the sound and soul of rebellion and all the things that the establishment doesn’t like. If you like the tunes, it’s a good bet you’ll like this film.
