Pirate Radio (The Boat That Rocked) (2009)

Comedy, Drama, Music

Director: Richard Curtis
Writer: Richard Curtis
Starring: Nick Frost, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Kenneth Branagh

"1 Boat. 8 DJs. No Morals."

British writer/director Richard Curtis's Pirate Radio a.k.a. The Boat That Rocked is an absolutely charming comedy set in the 1960's, about a fictitious pirate radio station and its crew of eclectic disc jockeys who broadcast off a ship stationed somwhere in the North Sea, while the British government tries to shut them down.

Although the film is somewhat light on story, the remarcable ansemble cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Chris O'Dowd, Kenneth Branagh) and their aggregate wattage of their collective screen presence totally makes up for it.

Plot summary from IMDb: "The Boat That Rocked" is an ensemble comedy in which the romance takes place between the young people of the '60s and pop music. It's about a band of rogue DJs that captivated Britain, playing the music that defined a generation and standing up to a government that wanted classical music, and nothing else, on the airwaves. The Count, a big, brash, American god of the airwaves; Quentin, the boss of Radio Rock -- a pirate radio station in the middle of the North Sea that's populated by an eclectic crew of rock and roll DJs; Gavin, the greatest DJ in Britain who has just returned from his drug tour of America to reclaim his rightful position; Dave, an ironic, intelligent and cruelly funny co-broadcaster; and a fearsome British government official out for blood against the drug takers and lawbreakers of a once-great nation.

Awards: 1 win & 7 nominations.
Runtime: 117 min
R