Much Better Than I Expected

Rating: 8/10 (12 December 2009)

I had fairly low expectations for this movie, but the combination of Phillip Seymour Hoffman being in it, and the prospect of hearing music from the time in my youth when I believed music--or the idea of freedom and freedom of ideas it expressed--really could change the world, made me decide to give it a chance. I'm so happy I did. I can appreciate movies with significant themes and stellar acting, but I can also appreciate movies that are just plain fun, and in which no one is taking themselves too seriously. "Pirate Radio" is just that sort of movie. I believe many of the negative comments about the length of the movie must be based on the original British version, as the version distributed here in the USA is not all that long. However, one can see signs some of the the subplots that were cut from the US release. Another thing--besides the lukewarm reviews-- that made me hesitant to see this movie was hearing it had been cut considerably by the US distributor. But that's not always a bad thing. For instance, I think Nicholas Roeg's director's cut of "The Man Who Fell to Earth" is inferior to the original theatrical version cut by an objective editor the studio hired. And someone certainly should have taken "Southland Tales" away from Richard Kelly. Sometimes directors fall so in love with their own work that they can't see how certain scenes detract from rather than add to the quality of the movie as a whole. Like another person who commented on "Pirate Radio," I was a part-time film reviewer back in the late 70s and early 80s, albeit for a free weekly paper in Hermosa Beach, CA--a job that...well, it was not really a job in the sense that the pay was far too low to have lived on without other employment. Anyway, back then I tended to review art house films and, occasionally, "serious" Hollywood product, which usually meant independent productions picked up by major studios, and/or the work of certain directors who had track records of producing worthwhile films. I doubt I would have bothered reviewing "Pirate Radio" had it been released then. It's a matter of some doubt as to whether reviewers' opinions have any significant impact on the box office of mainstream movies. And some films, such as this one, are virtually critic proof.