All at sea

Rating: 4/10 (24 May 2012)

When Radio Caroline began broadcasting rock 'n' roll from a boat anchored off the east coast of England in 1964, the BBC's virtual monopoly of the nation's airwaves disappeared, virtually overnight. These 'pirate radio stations' as the government so scathingly called them, played the kind of music teenagers in England wanted to hear, but had been denied to them ever since Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio. It's almost impossible to describe how 'energizing' it was to be able to turn on the radio at any time of the day or night, and hear that good old rock 'n' roll blasting out of your radio's speakers. Sadly, it couldn't last. In 1967, the government passed the Marine & Broadcasting Act making it illegal for Radio Caroline to continue operating, despite the fact that the boat was anchored in International Waters, which should have made them immune to government interference.
"The Boat That Rocked" should have been a humdinger, considering the impact 'pirate radio stations' had on the British Broadcasting Industry as well as the major record labels at the time, not to mention how popular they were with listeners. Unfortunately "The Boat That Rocked" is anything but. Actors can only work with the script they've been given: a good script, a satisfying film. A bad script, and a film, just like the boat, will sink faster than the Titanic. Excluding the remarkable Philip Seymour Hoffman, (The Count) who hardly ever turns in a less than professional performance, by comparison, the other actors are less than believable in their roles: to be perfectly frank, they come across as mere one-dimensional caricatures. Richard Curtis, the director of such light, fluffy confections such as "Notting Hill", "Bridget Jone's Diary" is here clearly out of his depth. Quick! Throw him a life jacket, someone! The bulk of the film's running time is taken up treading water, as it were, with one comic set-up after another, none of which are all that funny. Only the last half hour or so makes "The Boat That Rocks" worth watching, but by then you can be forgiven for wishing that you'd baled out long ago.