The Boat That Rocked (2009)

[Movie 284 / Day 302]

Roughly based on real life pirate radio stations (such as Radio Caroline), THE BOAT THAT ROCKED is an account of fictional station Radio Rock, broadcast from a ship moored off the coast of England in the 1960s, in the days when proper radio stations played classical music and hardly any stations played rock and roll.

In an attempt to instill some discipline, Carl (Tom Sturridge) is sent to stay with his godfather and the ship’s captain, Quentin (the wonderful Bill Nighy) after being expelled from school for smoking and taking drugs. Turns out this is a mistake as the ship is populated by a group of people who spend quite some time smoking and taking drugs. The other people on board are mostly Radio Rock’s DJs, and they are: The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Dave (Nick Frost), Simon, Angus (Rhys Darby), Midnight Mark and Smooth Bob (Ralph Brown). They are joined by the ship’s lesbian cook Felicity, and radio assistant’s Harold and Thick Kevin.

Life aboard the ship is one long party, involving petty squabbles being settled with childish games, women of loose morals, alcohol, drugs and of course, rock and roll.

Unfortunately, in Westminster, government minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) has a hatred of the pirate radio stations, regarding them as peddling filth and pornography – he makes it his personal agenda to shut them down. To this end, he enlists the help of his subordinate Twatt (Jack Davenport), in a terribly unsubtle joke.

Dormandy’s attemps to shut the station down start off quite subtly, by making it illegal for UK companies to advertise on the stations, effectively cutting off their revenue. Radio Rock counters by re-employing a very popular DJ called Gavin (Rhys Ifans), making the station more popular than ever. After another attempt to cut off revenue backfires, Twatt comes up with the idea of the Maritime Offences Act, after hearing of a fishing boat that couldn’t send out a distress call thanks to Radio Rock’s powerful mast swamping the airwaves. This act is pushed through as quickly as possible to become law, but the crew of Radio Rock all decide to defy the government and to keep on broadcasting.

Inevitably, Twatt leads a contingent of police officers to arrest everyone on board, only to find Radio Rock has sailed off, leaving a shipping trawler in it’s place. This is all well and good until the old engine, unused for years, siezes and blows a hole in the side of the ship, sinking her. The crew spend a long night trying to save themselves and bits of the ship as it slowly sinks, killing pirate radio off for good.

The movie is a feel-good, fun movie featuring a strong ensemble cast, a decent script and a cracking soundtrack. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans (who I normally just don’t like) and Kenneth Brannagh were all on top form. Special mention must go to Nick Frost and Rhys Darby too, as they were both excellent. In fact, there weren’t many bad performances in the movie at all. It all melds into a pleasant experience that’s well worth viewing.

My Rating:
[ IMDB rating: 7.6 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 135 mins ]