Richard Curtis 1960s comedy (The Boat That Rocked (DVD))

Member Name: stevek181

Product:	The Boat That Rocked (DVD)
Date:	21/09/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining and amusing

Disadvantages: Over-long and cliched

Written and directed by Richard Curtis, this period-comedy (retitled Pirate Radio for it's American release) was released in the UK on 1st April 2009 and is predominantly set on a fictional pirate radio ship in the North Sea in 1966.

With an impressive soundtrack including hits by The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and The Who, amongst others, the film has an enjoyable 60s feel about it and, although overly long at 135 minutes, generally bounds energetically long at a decent pace.

The plot centres around the young Carl (Tom Sturridge), recently expelled from his public-school and sent by his mother to stay onboard a pirate radio station with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy) for reasons that become apparent later. What follows is a coming-of-age of sorts, as Carl befriends the ecclectic bunch of DJs - including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Nick Frost, Chris O'Dowd and Rhys Darby - and sets about losing his virginity. The villains of the piece come in the form of Government Minister Alistair Dormany (Kenneth Branagh) and his sidekick Dominic Twatt (Jack Davenport) who are desperately trying to find loopholes in the law to close pirate radio stations down.

The plot is fairly cliched, with the loveable rogues of the pirate ship contasting with the stuffy and drab government minister. 60s life is glossed over with a sickly-sweet paintbrush. The characters too are stereotyped and one-dimensional with only Tom Sturridge really providing any emotional depth.

Despite it's obvious flaws however, the film is fairly entertaining and whilst not laugh-out-loud, is certainly amusing in parts. The climax, in keeping with the film, is drawn out and the characters are hard to care too much about, but in general it's all fairly likeable and just about worth a watch

Summary: Worth a watch