meandering long comedy

Rating: 6/10 (7 March 2016)

It's 1966. Official radio rarely plays the popular rock music of the era. Some pirate radio stations pop up broadcasting from international waters. Carl (Tom Sturridge) got expelled from school and arrives at his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy)'s Radio Rock ship in the North Sea. It's staffed by various oddballs like American DJ The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman). They are allowed to bring female friends aboard sometimes. Government minister Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) and his sidekick Domenic Twatt (Jack Davenport) try to shut the radio station down through legal loopholes. Quentin brings legendary DJ Gavin Kavanagh (Rhys Ifans) out of retirement.
I like the various characters but the story meanders too much. It's like a run-on sentence that runs out of steam. This show should simply follow Carl and watch the fascinating wild times from his point of view. The movie starts out fine but the light humor fades quickly. Maybe Tom Sturridge is not big enough to hold center stage against this wacky cast of characters. This is a great era for music although the movie seems to be more about the rotation of beautiful babes. I would rather have the girl stay on the ship for the entire trip and have a real relationship.