More Like A Ship of Fools

Rating: 6/10 (10 February 2012)

Pirate Radio refers to a ship at sea that plays banned rock and roll on British airways. The iconic-like DJ's who play the music are presumably the facilitators of the music's social significance and relevance. But I don't see them that way, not as they are presented in the movie. Rather, I see one of them as a rape suspect who induces an 18 year old virgin to have sex via false pretense, another as an irresponsible sex-about who failed to live up to parental responsibilities, and another who thinks having "just a little pop" with another DJ's wife of 17 hours is as harmless as hitting on a marijuana cigarette.
Don't get me wrong. I don't expect rock and roll DJ's to qualify for sainthood. Nor do I want them to. But I don't want them to be the very argument for why rock and roll is evil when, in fact, rock and roll is a legitimate culture and lifestyle.
That said, Pirate Radio does have its entertaining moments. It just didn't have enough of them for me to be enamored by the film. I love Bill Nighy's acting talents. Here is an actor that played, with equal effectiveness, a Nazi general in Valkerie, and a drug crazed, over the hill rock and roller in Love, Actually. As a the boss of the crew is equally adroit. Chris O'Dowd, who would later be one of the many highlights of Bridesmaids, does a great job in his role as the victim of the 17 hour marriage. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is actually quite brilliant, as usual, in playing an American celebrity DJ who finds his inner place aboard, above, and below Pirate Radio. My personal fantasy woman, Emma Thompson, has an effective couple of scenes in the film. In fact, the entire cast does a good job of acting.
The question, though, is acting as what? A bunch of felons?
The movie certainly starts well in defining what I think is the film's central theme. Nighy's character states emphatically, "Government's loathe people being free." Juxtapose that quote with the line from Kenneth Branagh's character, a government minister set on destroying the Pirate Radio, "You see, that's the whole point of being the government. If you don't like something you simply make up a new law that makes it illegal." So, I thought, we were going to be a witness to a battle between free thought and social will.
Instead we got free will run riot.