The Boat That Rocked (2009)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Richard Curtis

Writer:

Richard Curtis (writer)

Release Date:

November 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

1 Boat. 8 DJs. No Morals.

Plot:

A period comedy about an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 1960's.

Plot Keywords:

North Sea | American | Pirate Radio | 1960s | Pop Music

Cast

Bill Nighy	...	Quentin
Kenneth Branagh	...	Sir Alistair Dormandy
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	The Count
Nick Frost	...	'Doctor' Dave
Tom Sturridge	...	'Young' Carl
Rhys Ifans	...	Gavin
Rhys Darby	...	Angus 'The Nut' Nutsford
Tom Brooke	...	Thick Kevin
Gemma Arterton	...	Desiree
Ike Hamilton	...	Harold
Chris O'Dowd	...	'Simple' Simon Swafford
Talulah Riley	...	Marianne
Tom Wisdom	...	'Midnight' Mark
Will Adamsdale	...	'On-The-Hour' John
Ralph Brown	...	Bob Seaver

Also Known As:

Radio Rock Revolution (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, and some sexual content including brief nudity.

Runtime:

UK:129 min

Country:

UK | Germany

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS | Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:R | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:7 | Sweden:7 | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | France:U

Filming Locations:

Gambardella's Cafe, Blackheath Standard, London, England, UK

Company:

Medienproduktion Prometheus Filmgesellschaft

Trivia:

Alistair Dormandy, Kenneth Branagh's character, is a parody of Tony Benn, United Kingdom's Postmaster General in those times.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The Government minister in charge of closing down the pirate radio stations is depicted as a right-wing reactionary, with a grand home with servants. In fact the responsible minister was Tony Benn, then the Labour government Postmaster General at the time, who is known as one of the most left-wing and socialist senior politicians ever.

Quotes:

Minister Dormandy: [referring to Radio Rock] We have their testicles in our hands, Twatt, and it feels good.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 81st Annual Academy Awards (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)

I would not call it a work of genius, but...

"The Boat That Rocked" will not trouble the Oscars next year. I would not call it a work of genius.

Reasons?

The film did not have a plot. A series of sketches strung together is not a plot.

The film was set in 1966, but the music cues were all other the place. This could have been because either

a) the producers were incredibly slack in researching the music that would have been played on the radio during the period that the film is set

or

b) the film was actually a piece of science fiction, as the DJ's appeared to have access to a time travel device, allowing them to obtain and play music from the future.

(Examples? Oooh, lots. "Let's Spend The Night Together" and "Jumping Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones (1967 and 1968, respectively), "H-Ho Silver Lining" by Jeff Beck (1967), "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum (1967) and "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells (1969). There were more. Have fun finding them yourself.)

The film was 129 minutes long. 29 minutes too long, in my opinion. I suppose that a broad comedy can be longer than 100 minutes and still work, but you would need a better director than Richard Curtis to make it work. As with his previous film "Love, Actually" (which I actually like a lot), I felt that Richard Curtis is a better writer than a director. Another director might have made "The Boat That Rocked" a tighter movie.

There was a whiff of sexism about "The Boat That Rocked". Just a whiff, but a whiff nevertheless. Society has moved on, guys. There were strong, capable women in the 1960's, but none in the 1960's of this movie. Why not?

So, "The Boat That Rocked" was a disaster then? Yes?

Well, no, because "The Boat That Rocked" was mostly a funny, unpretentious and entertaining film. It had a soundtrack that was out of this world, idiosyncratic performances (does anybody pout quite like Bill Nighy or lick a microphone like Rhys Ifans?) and was just a nice, feelgood movie. Honest injun. I left the cinema with a big smile on my face and bought the soundtrack album the very next day.

The critics have not been kind to "The Boat That Rocked". Hell! Who cares what any critic has to say? "The Boat That Rocked" was not a classic, but give it a go. You might like it.