Pirate Radio (AKA The Boat That Rocked)

When it comes to marketing films for U.S. release they must think we Americans are pretty dumb. Apparently sometimes movie titles have to be changed or else American audiences just wont understand a damn thing about the movie. Pirate Radio as it's known in the U.S. (originally titled The Boat That Rocked) is about an American disk jockey in the 1960's who single handedly brought rock 'n roll to Great Brittan, where it was previously banned from the airwaves. Oh, and it's based on a true story.

Ok, none of that is true, but that's how the film was marketed in the United States. That was the movie I thought I was sitting down to watch. This is not what the movie is about. The film is set in the 1960's on a boat anchored off the shore of England where a group of disk jockeys broadcast rock 'n roll and radio shows based around rock 24 hours a day. The reason they took it upon themselves to do this is because with the popularity of rock music booming at this time in history, the British media only dedicated less than an hour a day to playing the popular music. Well, at least I think that part is true. Who knows? Also, it is in fact not based on a true story other than the fact that rock was popular in the 60's and there was some boat that broadcast from the ocean. I'm not even sure if the real boat had broadcast rock. It could have been classical for all I know.

Real quick, take a look at the two different posters. In the American version (the one on the right) the whole Abby Road joke is lost because they wanted to cram the poster full of more shit to make it look more exciting. It's a shame.

Even though the American trailers depicted the film to be about American D.J. "The Count" played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, it's actually about all the DJs on the boat. Ok, that's a lie as well. The movie mostly follows "Young Carl" played by Tom Sturridge who was sent to live with his godfather (Bill Nighy from Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean) on the boat when he is kicked out of school. We meet all the DJs on the boat including Angus Nutsford (Rhys Darby from The Flight of the Conchords), and Doctor Dave (Nick Frost from Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Spaced).

The plot of the movie is that even though they are not breaking any laws, the British government is trying to find a way to shut down "Rock Radio" because rock 'n roll is always somehow "evil." I dunno. We watch as everytime the powers that be find a way to force Rock Radio off the air, they find a way to counter it and stay afloat. While all this is happening the egos on the boat clash and stuff. Just filler, really.

The real star of the film is the music. I mean, that's what the movie is really about. Rock 'n roll was just beginning and this motley crew of characters wanted to be sure that the general public got their fill. The soundtrack is amazing. Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, The Who, Procol Harum, the list goes on. I was quite pleased with the movie, although I don't believe it was well received by the public. The movie was funny, sweet, and all around entertaining. My only issue with "Pirate Radio" (if we can even call it that) is that it had to be "dumbed down" for America. Twenty minutes were also cut out of the American release of the film. From what I hear this was a choice by the director because British critics felt the film dragged on at times. Let's hope that the real reason the scenes were cut is not because there was a deeper plot that dumb country hick Americans just can't grasp, although, I'd mostly agree with that statement. Long live Rock 'n Roll!