The Boat That Rocked (2009)
This film falls under two categories that I may well bring up again:
1) the “I couldn’t be assed seeing this in cinemas but circumstances made me” category and the
2) “I thoroughly enjoyed this in cinemas even though I had no intention whatsoever of seeing it in the first place” category.
The Boat That Rocked is set in 1966 in Great Britain, when the BBC station played less than 45 minutes of pop and rock music a day even though this was pretty much the TIME of rock’n'roll. Because of this, “pirate” (taken literally) radio stations began to crop up that would broadcast rock’n'roll 24/7 over their own frequencies. Weirdly enough this could fall under the classification of “period piece” as it is set in 1960 and based on semi-real events.
I didn’t want to see this film for one reason: I am so damn picky about comedy. I like very few comedic things that don’t involve romance, and many of the comedic things I do like are usually more sarcastic and snarky than laugh-out-loud funny. This film was recommended to me by loads of people, but I didn’t actually end up watching because I wanted to. Long story short, I’d had a shitty day and I wanted to see a movie. The only things that were on at the time were The Reader (incredible film, might review it another time) and this. Following my mum’s advice I avoided the incredibly emotional and hard-hitting film in favor of this.
And I’m really happy I chose this one.
TBTR (since I’ll undoubtedly make more spelling errors than usual as it is late at night and I’m watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang casually as I write) is an incredibly entertaining film, about Carl (Tom Sturridge) who gets sent by his mother to the Radio Rock boat in the middle of the ocean (one of the pirate stations on the British radiowaves). There he meets all the presenters of the 24/7 pirate channel and does the whole growing-up-and-gaining-life-experience gig. The best part about this movie, though, is the characters in it.
It’s the ultimate dysfunctional family: there is the “sexy” presenter, who barely says anything while he’s broadcasting but has DROVES of fangirls, the clever and cocky presenter, the geeky news guy, the very early morning presenter who no one knows even though he’s been on the boat for 7 months, the cook and only woman on board Radio Rock (permitted only due to her sexual preferences) and the man who keeps them all together.
The story itself is very simple: Radio Rock are extremely popular, and the British government are not fond of them. Cue government trying to find something illegal to pin on the pirate station to get them cancelled, and the pirate station going along as always ignoring the boring government. Simple? Check. Easy to follow? Double-check. Entertaining? Hell yes.
I’ve always been an ENORMOUS fan of Kenneth Branagh since I saw him in Wild Wild West (call it a shame movie… I adore it) and he is so great as the stuck-up idiot of a man trying to close Radio Rock down that he should get his own paragraph. And there it was; his own paragraph.
Now, the movie doesn’t have anything epically original or even particularly funny in it. It’s one of those films that you can spend HOURS explaining to your friends and they will just smile and give you blank looks because you have to SEE it to find it funny and adorable. And funny and adorable it is indeed. The friendship that the entire swarm of DJs on the ship have is realistic and sweet; they fool around, make fun of each other, but defend their own (even if they claim to not like the person) by playing a hilarious game of chicken if someone insults them. Also, the station’s “tradition” (as it were) to broadcast everything that is happening on the boat brings about some wonderful scenes and very funny dialogue.
The last thing I want to mention is the music. If the actors are the heart of the story, then the music is the heartbeat. Obviously, this being a film ABOUT music it has a lot more music in it than you would usually find in your average mainstream flick. I am a huge fan of good old fashioned rock’n'roll, but my knowledge of it is very limited. However, I enjoyed every second of this movie because (among other things) the music was so perfect. Rock will never die.
I recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good time and isn’t put off by a lot of swearing and quite a bit of sexual innuendo (both straight and deviating). It’s a fun movie, no other way to describe it. It’s the movie you watch when you need a pick-me-up, when you feel like cheering at the end without feeling like a twat, and when you need a good dose of rock’n'roll with a whole band of fun characters that weave their lives around it. I’d give it a 7/10 and definitely watch it a third time.
