The Boat That Rocked

UK Release: 1st April 2009

Watched on Recorded TV: Sunday 18th/Monday 19th December 2011

Rating: 15

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music

Runtime: 1hr 56mins

Tagline: 1 Boat. 8 DJs. No Morals.

IMDb Plot Synopsis: A period comedy about an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 1960s.

My Review: To begin with my first expectations of this film was that it was another Richard Curtis comedy with Bill Nighy etc, so it will be incredibly cheesy. This is completely verified by the above trailer. However what we have here is something more than that. Just about. 

For a start it is a period drama and so looks and feels exactly how everyone believes the 1960’s to be: the tone being set right from the off with a great sequence of the ‘country’ dancing to Radio Rock. 

And may I just say now that the soundtrack makes this film. There I’ve got that off my chest. 

As a music lover I adored the concept of this film, but the feel-good tunes woven throughout the film are enough to give anybody watching a warm glow. And while not all the cast members would normally be my cup of tea, somehow the idea of this team of DJs living and working together on a boat works and the banter between them is genuinely funny at times.

Of course this wouldn’t be a Richard Curtis film, though, without a sappy love story, and that is fulfilled by the young Carl's plight to find a girlfriend and so adds a bit of heart to the film. 

The evil government scenes, however, where just vomit-inducingly cringey and, while the whole shutting down pirate radio is what makes this a drama, I believe this could have been done quite a lot more sincerely and thus would have been much better off. 

There are a good few twists and turns which keep you watching and there is some decent acting, so I soon fell in love with the film. However as it was dragging past the 90 minute mark something terrible happened: the boat sank. And thus the film spiralled into just pure cheese and therefore I just couldn’t take it seriously any longer, leaving a corny taste in my mouth. 

This was unfortunate as it was going so well - with some great characters and funny dialogue. But it wasn’t ruined completely. It could have been something more, but I can still recommend it as a great feel-good film...

Score: 8/10