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The Boat That Rocked (2009)

Director: Richard Curtis

Time Out rating

Average user rating

326 reviews

Synopsis

Richard Curtis tells the tale of 1960s pirate station Radio Caroline. Bill Nighy stars. Hugh Grant doesn't.

Movie review

From Time Out London

‘The Ship That Sank’ would be a more appropriate title for writer-director Richard Curtis’s latest and most disappointing entertainment. It’s a cripplingly self-conscious and self-satisfied tribute to the roistering last days of offshore British mid-’60s pirate radio before the meanies from the ministry pulled the plugs.

It’s also the kind of musical comedy where the actors seem to be having more fun than any audience could ever share. This overlong, poorly paced and slackly directed ship-bound farrago not only wastes its treasury of golden oldies – Hendrix, Kinks, Small Faces etc – but magically contrives to reduce the chaotic, creative spirit of the sexual and cultural revolution to a mere mechanical catalogue of trite and surprisingly sentimental sex-drugs-and-rock ’n’ roll clichés, each fatally underlined by multiple and repetitive reaction shots.

If there are compensations, they come courtesy of a few diverting performances. The movie’s depressingly few incidences of genuine feeling come from Tom Sturridge who is sweet and appealing as the public schoolboy taken under the wing of his godfather, ship’s captain and Radio Rock boss Quentin, played by Bill Nighy as a self-parody in made-to-measure Regency-collared suits. Philip Seymour Hoffman does a turn as the radical, Emperor Rosko-like DJ in rivalry with Rhys Ifans’s self-serving immoralist Gavin.

Elsewhere, pickings are slim: the talented Ralph Brown is wasted – he’s cast as Wee Small Hours Bob, a misjudged amalgam, presumably, of ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris and dysarthric Danny from ‘Withnail & I’ – and the same is doubly true of such comic talents as Chris O’Dowd, Rhys Darby and Nick Frost.

Author: Wally Hammond 2009-03-31 11:30:36

Time Out London Issue 2015, Apr 2-8 2009

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User reviews of this film

Kevin said...

Posted on May 01 2009 12:48 The film is a waste of time and money! Don't bother seeing it.

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francis said...

Posted on May 01 2009 12:47 Sorry, I wasn't alluding to you ronnieblue. It is mainly the posts that use lots pf exclamation marks that I think are fishy. They are very similar and make precisely the same points.

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claire said...

Posted on May 01 2009 12:47 At least that makes one of us...

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ronnieblue said...

Posted on May 01 2009 12:22 to francis
i can assure you that i am not pr
just enjoyed the film

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francis said...

Posted on May 01 2009 12:16 ..and here's one star. I didn't realise you can't give it zero stars. Shame.

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francis said...

Posted on May 01 2009 12:15 Who is it that posts all these banal comments about how lighthearted and evocative this film is?
It is neither. It is an appalling waste of good actors, music and a half decent idea.
I am worried that public relations people spend so much time trying to manipulate the public into wasting their money. To my mind such posts are equivalent to a con trick.

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ronnieblue said...

Posted on May 01 2009 12:15 to claire
this film seems to be either loved or hated
i think that if you lived through the 60's
it helped
to hear your favourite single 3 or 4 times a day was totally unbelievable thanks for the memory

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claire said...

Posted on May 01 2009 11:34 Anita, as far as I'm aware this is a comment box where you can express whatever views you have about the film. I hated it, and I want my money back. If you loved it so much, that's great for you and I'm sure someday you'll find your sense of humour and taste in comedy films.

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rubbisher said...

Posted on May 01 2009 10:13 How could actors like Brannah and Nighey associate themswelves with such ephemeral rubbish. What an opportunity this was to dramatise a national debate and a turning point in British society. No-one approves of the government's methods but to portray them as cardboard villains was ridiculous. I think, probably the whole purpose of the film is to revive sales of sixties' music..

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Carole said...

Posted on Apr 30 2009 10:25 Bizarre how people either love it or hate it! It was a funny, watchable film - not exactly rocket science stuff, but pleasant enough way to spend 2 hours on a Wednesday evening! Go with an open mind and enjoy the humour - loads of people were laughing in the cinema when I went, so it can't have been THAT bad!

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Mo said...

Posted on Apr 28 2009 16:23 A huge, steaming, chocolately brown turd of a film.

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Kit said...

Posted on Apr 28 2009 14:53 Oh dear. This movie was pushed into 10th place at the box ofice this week, taking less 250K in the UK & Ireland. This is an abyssmal performance from a film in (its fourth week on release) that was supposed to be a big earner. What a stinker.

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mary said...

Posted on Apr 28 2009 10:03 Disappointing after all the hype. Counted over 40hits though- shows where my attention was!

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jen said...

Posted on Apr 27 2009 22:29 hopefully my 1 star rating will speak louder than words - steer clear.

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Elwyn said...

Posted on Apr 27 2009 17:38 I agree with Anita, people are being far too nasty about this film. Too much negativity is bad fo all of usn and those that have passed.
To be honest, I didn't like the film much but I am going to give it 6 stars again, just to cheer Anita & Richard Curtis up.

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