I would not call it a work of genius, but...

Rating: 7/10 (19 April 2009)

"The Boat That Rocked" will not trouble the Oscars next year. I would not call it a work of genius.
Reasons?
The film did not have a plot. A series of sketches strung together is not a plot.
The film was set in 1966, but the music cues were all other the place. This could have been because either
a) the producers were incredibly slack in researching the music that would have been played on the radio during the period that the film is set
or
b) the film was actually a piece of science fiction, as the DJ's appeared to have access to a time travel device, allowing them to obtain and play music from the future.
(Examples? Oooh, lots. "Let's Spend The Night Together" and "Jumping Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones (1967 and 1968, respectively), "H-Ho Silver Lining" by Jeff Beck (1967), "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum (1967) and "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells (1969). There were more. Have fun finding them yourself.)
The film was 129 minutes long. 29 minutes too long, in my opinion. I suppose that a broad comedy can be longer than 100 minutes and still work, but you would need a better director than Richard Curtis to make it work. As with his previous film "Love, Actually" (which I actually like a lot), I felt that Richard Curtis is a better writer than a director. Another director might have made "The Boat That Rocked" a tighter movie.
There was a whiff of sexism about "The Boat That Rocked". Just a whiff, but a whiff nevertheless. Society has moved on, guys. There were strong, capable women in the 1960's, but none in the 1960's of this movie. Why not?
So, "The Boat That Rocked" was a disaster then? Yes?
Well, no, because "The Boat That Rocked" was mostly a funny, unpretentious and entertaining film. It had a soundtrack that was out of this world, idiosyncratic performances (does anybody pout quite like Bill Nighy or lick a microphone like Rhys Ifans?) and was just a nice, feelgood movie. Honest injun. I left the cinema with a big smile on my face and bought the soundtrack album the very next day.
The critics have not been kind to "The Boat That Rocked". Hell! Who cares what any critic has to say? "The Boat That Rocked" was not a classic, but give it a go. You might like it.