The Boat That Rocked (2009)

Director:

Richard Curtis

Writer:

Richard Curtis (writer)

Release Date:

13 November 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

1 Boat. 8 DJs. No Morals.

Plot:

A period comedy about an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 1960's.

Plot Keywords:

North Sea | American | Pirate Radio | Pop Music | Boat

Cast

Michael Hadley	...	Mr. Roberts
Charlie Rowe	...	James
Lucy Fleming	...	Mrs. Roberts
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	The Count
Tom Sturridge	...	Carl
Ian Mercer	...	Transfer Boatman
Bill Nighy	...	Quentin
Will Adamsdale	...	News John
Tom Brooke	...	Thick Kevin
Rhys Darby	...	Angus
Nick Frost	...	Dave
Katherine Parkinson	...	Felicity
Chris O'Dowd	...	Simon
Ike Hamilton	...	Harold
Stephen Moore	...	Prime Minister

Also Known As:

Good Morning England (France)
Pirate Radio (USA) (new title)
Radio Rock Revolution (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, and some sexual content including brief nudity.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

UK | Germany | USA | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45019) | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:7 | Sweden:7 | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | France:U | UK:15 | South Korea:18 | Portugal:M/12 | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Japan:PG12 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Gambardella's Cafe, Blackheath Standard, London, England, UK

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Alistair Dormandy, Kenneth Branagh's character, is a parody of Tony Benn, United Kingdom's Postmaster General in those times.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: One of the cars in a London street scene has a 1967 registration although the film is set in 1966.

Quotes:

Simon: I think we're actually going to die.
Thick Kevin: Why?
Simon: I'll explain later.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Blake Lively/Rihanna (#35.8)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Crimson and Clover

Good, honest fun.

Richard Curtis' first 'non romantic comedy film' is really another romantic comedy film- it's just that the romantic bit gets swamped within 20 other sub-plots so you try and not notice.

The Boat That Rocked sees Carl ( Tom Surridge ) go aboard Radio Rock- a pirate radio station owned by Quentin ( Bill Nighy ) whose DJ's (Phillip Semour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Chris O' Dowd, Rhys Darby, etc. ) broadcast 24-hour rock and roll music to the UK. They are adored by the populace but hated by the government, including the Minister of Communications ( Kenneth Branagh ) and his chief subordinate ( Jack Davenport ) who aim to shut them down.

If that was the extent of the plot then it would probably be a 100 mins film. However the Boat That Rocked has so many little sub-plots- many seeming like excuses to put in another montage or cameo cast appearance that the time has ballooned out to 154mins and it does tell at times. Furthermore, while Richard Curtis is entitled to look back on these days with an air of nostalgia, he sometimes seems to get a little too weepy eyed with the story.

But these faults are more than made up for in the performances; all of which are good- and some are outstanding. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Count is a lovable character who approaches everything with great gusto, while Chris O' Dowd's Simple Simon has a wonderful part in the middle section of the movie which brings a little bit of emotion to what is a pretty emotionally vacant movie. Nick Frost is cheeky as Dr Dave and finally Rhys Darby- fresh from Flight of the Conchords- simply shines in his role as the unpopular and daggy Angus who nonetheless gets arguably the best line in the whole movie.

Overall the Boat That Rocked is silly and entertaining fun. It does get overweight by a looong script, but the soundtrack and the cast are good enough to carry it through.