For Release in USA and Canada , The British ensemble comedy film 'The Boat That Rocked' was retitled 'Pirate Radio' and will be launch on 13 November 2009. Set in 1966, it tells a story about a fictitious pirate radio station broadcasting from a ship to the United Kingdom. The film was written and directed by Richard Curtis and made by Working Title Films for Universal Pictures.Richard Curtis
Produced by
Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Hilary Bevan Jones
Written by
Richard Curtis
Publish Post
Starring
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Tom Sturridge
Tom Wisdom
Bill Nighy
Rhys Ifans
Nick Frost
Talulah Riley
Chris O'Dowd
Rhys Darby
Kenneth Branagh
January Jones
Jack Davenport
Cinematography
Danny Cohen
Editing by
Emma E. Hickox
Studio
StudioCanal
Working Title Films
Distributed by
Universal Pictures(UK)
Focus Features (US)
Release date(s)
1 April 2009 (UK)
13 November 2009 (Canada, US)
Running time
135 minutes (UK)
116 minutes (Canada, US)
Language
English
Pirate Radio is far from perfect, but it’s an undeniably fun film. Considering nearly my entire synopsis is character description, it’s clear there’s an abundance of players in need of development, and Pirate Radio provides just enough for each of them. On the other hand, when it comes to plot development, the film lacks significantly.
It’s extremely difficult to figure out where to focus your attention. Okay, this kid Carl hops on a boat packed with sex-crazed radio DJs. Then there’s the feud between The Count and Gavin (Rhys Ifans). Oh, and Simon’s marriage issues. And how can I forget the unusually epic ending? It’s not that there’s so much going on at once, it’s that it’s all happening in an extremely rapid succession. Once you’ve focused on one subplot, the film has moved on to the next, leaving you no time to digest much of the material.
The key to enjoying Pirate Radio is letting your mind idle. Sit back, relax and enjoy the film’s highlights, the music and the cast. I could go through the spectacular Pirate Radio roster and tell you why each actor delivers, but it’s the group collaboration that makes the ensemble especially effective. The Radio Rock crewmembers are the coolest guys on the waves, and there's no way you'll walk out of this film without wanting to join their party.
There’s little resonance and portions of the film are absurd, namely the ending, but the senseless fun keeps Pirate Radio firmly afloat. With Oscar season fast approaching many will get serious and scrutinize films to the core in an attempt to assess their award winning potential. Well, Pirate Radio isn’t winning any awards, so chill out, have fun, enjoy the music and you’ll have a blast.
