A funny movie despite its flaws.

Rating: 7/10 (5 April 2009)

After being expelled from his school, Carl arrives on the pirate radio boat, Radio Rock to spend time with his godfather Quentin. Meanwhile, the UK government have launched a crackdown on pirate radio stations...
Richard Curtis has not made a movie. What he's made is series of episodes, inter-spread with the government sub-plot. While there is a thread of a story about what is happening on the boat, it's never really dealt with as is the case with several plot threads, such as the girl Marianne that Carl falls for. She disappears from the movie, only to re-appear in a scene that is certainly contrived. It's as if Curtis the writer has actually over-written the movie, and then Curtis the director has cut away several of the minor plots. In fact the only plot that doesn't feel cut is the government trying to close down pirate radio. What I think was needed was for Curtis to perhaps cut one or two DJ's from the boat, and that way allowing the sub-plots to flow better.
Having said that however, There is much to enjoy here. The entire cast are first-rate. From Kenneth Branagh and Jack Davenport as the government ministers and officials to Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost as some of the DJ's involved, Bill Nighy as the station owner and the rest, they are all good. And the script it has to be said is very funny. If there is a down side, the female characters aren't written very well. The seem to be there mostly as sex objects, and don't get to contribute much to the actual story.
What does feel good however are the DJ's in the movie. As I said the actors are all good, but by getting a wide mix of actors playing them, no two DJ's seem the same. They all have there own personalities, and this comes over well, even if some of their antics do come over as juvenile at times.
As he did with Love Actually, Curtis has created an ensemble piece, that while being funny, touching, and yes even emotional in places, isn't quite as good as you'd hope it would be. As mentioned, the boat scenes are too episodic and don't really have a narrative as such running through to sustain it. Though he does manage to pull of a wonderful, emotional finish which works very well indeed.
And yet, despite its flaws, I did laugh constantly through-out. And that means that it works fine as a comedy. And it must be said, it does have a wonderful soundtrack.