Pirate Radio: A movie review

Pirate Radio
A Movie Review

         Will it ever go away—that eponymous decade that Baby Boomers refuse to let die? Just when we had thought the 1960s might finally disappear into the dustbin of Golden Oldies, along comes writer-director Richard Curtis’ Pirate Radio. The movie attempts to tease us back into those lost years of sex ‘n drugs ‘n rock ‘n roll with a romantic comedy about a motley crew aboard a ship broadcasting rock music into stodgy old England and in violation of the BBC’s outdated three-pronged format of jazz, culture, and information. His attempt gets watered down in the American version, in which the drug scenes have been cut and sex is implied or off-screen—the only nudity is a scene in which chunky Nick Frost, as the womanizing DJ Dr. Dave, appears in full-frontal. Of the decade’s sex ‘n drugs ‘n rock ‘n roll credo, only rock ‘n roll remains.
         At first glance, Pirate Radio appears to contain so many faults that not even Philip Seymour Hoffman in a starring role can save it. Though Rock music lies at the heart of the movie, some of the music is anachronistic, having been recorded after the movie’s 1966 setting. The characters do not grow and change. The ending is predictable. With a cast that includes film icons Philip Seymour Hoffman as scruffy American ex-pat DJ “The Count,” Bill Nighy as the effeminate ship’s master, Tom Sturridge and Emma Thompson, Curtis’ efforts should have produced a blockbuster instead of a commercial flop. Yet, I enjoyed watching it. Pirate Radio is a romp, nothing more. It has no pretensions to high art, moral underpinnings, or philosophical depth. And let’s face it: the music of the 1960s was pretty good stuff, wasn’t it?
The aging ship Radio Rock, anchored off the coast of England, broadcasts rock music into a country whose rigid politicians seem mission-driven to keep decadent music from the masses. In a scene in which uptight government minister Alistair Dormandy, played by Kenneth Branagh, sets off the action by taking on the task of assassinating rock music, he mutters between clenched teeth, “The nice thing about being in government is that if we don’t like something, we can make it illegal.”
         Aboard the ship, Young Carl (Tom Sturridge) has been kicked out of school. His mother Charlotte (Emma Thompson) sends him to his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy) aboard Radio Rock. Quentin’s greeting sets the movie’s tone:

Quentin: So... expelled?
Young Carl: That's right.
Quentin: What for?
Young Carl: I suppose smoking was the clincher.
Quentin: Drugs or cigarettes?
Young Carl: Well, both.
Quentin: Well done! Proud of you. So your mum sent you here in the hope that a little bracing sea air would sort you out?
Young Carl: Something like that.
Quentin: Spectacular mistake.

         It is Pirate Radio’s wry humor and the characters played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy that has the film stand out from the parade of 1960s nostalgia movies, and the soundtrack makes the movie a must-see for rock ‘n roll fans. Nitpickers who take pleasure in finding fault in movies will enjoy it, too.

Pirate Radio
released November 2009
Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi34800409?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_2