Review: 'Pirate Radio'
Plot: In 1966, a young British boy boards a floating radio station.
Bottom line: A raunchy, romantic paean to the golden age of rock and roll
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Emma Thompson
Length: 1:55
Raunchy 'Pirate Radio' is shipshape
Photo credit: AP Photo/Alex Bailey | In this film publicity image released by Focus Features, Tom Sturridge, background left, and Rhys Ifans are shown in a scene from "Pirate Radio."
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Trailer: Pirate Radio
Sex, vulgarity and pervasive raunch give "Pirate Radio" its R rating, but the movie means no harm: This rock and roll comedy feels as cuddly as a G-rated Disney product.
The year is 1966, and British schoolboy Carl (Tom Sturridge) has been sent by his mother (Emma Thompson) to live aboard a semilegal vessel called Rock Radio. Helmed by Carl's hip godfather (Bill Nighy) and staffed by several adorably disreputable disc jockeys, this ship will be the party pad where Carl becomes a man.
What ensues is "Animal House" meets "A Hard Day's Night," with randy boys causing trouble and chasing the women who are shipped in like cargo. The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman) may cross swords with super-smooth Gavin (Rhys Ifans), and heavyset Doctor Dave (Nick Frost) may steal someone's girl, but the bonds of men are not easily broken.
Writer-director Richard Curtis, whose Brit-fluff resumé includes "Love, Actually" and "Notting Hill," clearly loves this material, loosely inspired by the real-life Radio Caroline that once commandeered Britain's airwaves. In fact, Curtis seems reluctant to cause his characters any trouble. Kenneth Branagh hams it up as a music-hating politician, but he's a token villain. "Pirate Radio" would rather just keep the drinks flowing and the vinyl spinning.
PLOT RATING R (sexuality, language, smoking)
