pirate radio

a friend and i went to go see "an education" this saturday and mistakenly arrived at the theater an hour early.  we ducked into the theater for "pirate radio" instead.  an hour later we went back to "an education."

"pirate radio" is a big mess. it's set in 1966, when england has banned rock and roll from british radio stations spawning a fleet of ships off the british coast who's inhabitants spend their days broadcasting rock and roll, getting high, and talking about getting laid- all in the name of freedom. the other set in the film is inside the british governmental offices where politicians all but curl their handle bar mustaches while plotting to curtail these offshore activities- all in the name of decency. there's a subplot of a young man being sent to live on the boat with his godfather (nighy) and his quest to lose his virginity (women are ferried in regularly) and a secret sub sub plot that the godfather might really be his father, so it's meant to be a coming of age film as well.

"pirate radio" aka "the boat that rocked" is a waste of such a highly regarded and awarded cast which includes phillip seymour hoffman (truman), bill nighy(underworld, love actually), kenneth branagh( hamlet, henry 5) and rhy ifans (notting hill).  the characters are too broad and we have absolutely no chance to warm up to them. as an audience we are dropped on the the ship in the night during a storm and immediately are shown everyone's worst side. and after an hour we had yet to be shown anyone's good side. the script has anacranistic dialog which is very distracting, the editing is clumsy and the directing seems without purpose.

don't bother.  spend your money on the soundtrack- great selection of 60's music.