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Movies / Upcoming / The Boat That Rocked
The Boat That Rocked

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The Boat That Rocked (2009)

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Reviews Counted:39

Fresh:21

Rotten:18

Average Rating:5.3/10

Consensus: The good cast and rollicking soundtrack eventually drown when this comic homage to pirate radio loses its quippy steam.

Australian Rating: M [See Full Rating] Coarse language, sexual references and nudity

Genre: Comedies

Australian Theatrical Release:
Apr 9, 2009 Wide

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: Pirate Radio is the high-spirited story of how 8 DJs love affair with Rock n Roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s this group of rouge DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic,... Pirate Radio is the high-spirited story of how 8 DJs love affair with Rock n Roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s this group of rouge DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic, played rock records and broke the law all for the love of music. The songs they played united and defined an entire generation and drove the British government crazy. By playing Rock n Roll they were standing up against the British government who did everything in their power to shut them down. The band of rebels is lead by The Count, played by the Academy Award Winning Philip Seymour Hoffman, Quentin the boss of Radio Rock, Gavin the greatest DJ in Britian, Midnight Mark, Doctor Dave and Young Carl who comes of age amidst the chaos of sex, drugs and rock n roll. The film features an unbelievable selection of music including The Beatles, The Stones, Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Smokey Robinson, David Bowie, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens just to name a few. The film is laugh out loud funny and speaks to the rock n roll rebel in all of us. --© Focus Features [More]

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Sturridge, Jack Davenport, Ralph Brown, Chris O'Dowd, Rhys Darby, Will Adamsdale, Tom Brooke, Tom Wisdom, Katherine Parkinson, Ike Hamilton, January Jones, Tallulah Riley

Director: Richard Curtis

Director: Richard Curtis
Screenwriter: Richard Curtis
Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Hilary Bevan Jones
Studio: Focus Features

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Reviews for The Boat That Rocked

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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An energetic, semi-farcical comedy romp blessed with a great ensemble cast, some gloriously tasteless jokes and a soundtrack of period hits.

Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | comment Comment
04/17/09
Jim Schembri
Jim Schembri
The Age (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a clever crowd-pleaser. You'll walk away knowing that you'll see it again.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
04/10/09
Annette Basile
Annette Basile
FILMINK (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A lot of The Boat That Rocked is fun but it could, and should, have been a great deal more fun than it is.

Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | comment 1 Comment
04/10/09
David Stratton
David Stratton
At the Movies (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film itself is not irritating, although it's so relentlessly cheery that it could have been.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
04/10/09
Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Having lived in London when the pirate radio stations flourished in the 60s, I can easily relate to the subject matter, although the treatment is fanciful. But that's OK, we're talking about rock n'roll, sex and youth, and about having fun.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
04/02/09
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The result is a blast. It's a coming of age story with comic elements as well as a reflection of the mood of a generation that embraced the music as a part of their everyday lives.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
04/02/09
Louise Keller
Louise Keller
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's a bit of everything in Curtis' structurally messy, endlessly repititious comedy: nostalgia for good music, irreverent humor and sentimentality, wild deejays, virginal boy who needs to get laid, son who needs to find his father, even a lesbian cook

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
10/06/09
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

This blast of Sixties nostalgia, derived from the days when pirate radio ships broadcast off the coast of Britain with a motley crew of dee-jays, should appeal to ageing music freaks and fans of Brit-pop.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/19/09
Richard Mowe
Richard Mowe
Boxoffice Magazine

At its best, the film has a warm-hearted camaraderie that's contagious, but it's a vision of the '60s that feels like it's been test screened to within an inch of its life, with no rough edges and no real sense of danger.

Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National | comment Comment
04/10/09
Jason Di Rosso
Jason Di Rosso
MovieTime, ABC Radio National
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Curtis has failed to give us characters we can really like.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment 3 Comments
04/09/09
Cosmo Landesman
Cosmo Landesman
Sunday Times (UK)

Looking back for a suitably rousing episode from our national past, Curtis has alighted on Dunkirk, a tragedy narrowly averted, which he reprises as mirthless, feelgood farce.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment 1 Comment
04/09/09
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

Curtis ambitiously stirs action and tragedy into his usual mix of romance, comedy and politics, but the resulting film is all over the place. It looks and sounds great, but none of the elements come together.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
04/07/09
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Sensational stuff from one of the best writers of his generation and a film which will appeal to every age.

Full Review Source: Sunday Mail [UK] | comment 1 Comment
04/07/09
Mickey McMonagle
Mickey McMonagle
Sunday Mail [UK]

‘The Ship That Sank’ would be a more appropriate title for writer-director Richard Curtis’s latest and most disappointing entertainment. It’s a cripplingly self-conscious and self-satisfied tribute.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment 3 Comments
04/03/09
Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Time Out

A great movie? No. Great entertainment? Not arf!

Full Review Source: Film4 | comment 1 Comment
04/03/09
Richard Luck
Richard Luck
Film4

The rom-com glue that has turned every other Curtis film into box-office gold is absent. This is a listless, sketchy mess.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment 3 Comments
04/03/09
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie is boisterous, sentimental and worryingly deficient in laughs for a worryingly large amount of the time.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment 1 Comment
04/03/09
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Well over two hours long, the film outstays its welcome, but it does have some truly magical moments that outshine anything Curtis has done before.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
04/03/09
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph

It's a delight to be in the company of this crew, so much so that you'll be tempted to book a roundtrip.

Full Review Source: Digital Spy | comment Comment
04/03/09
Stella Papamichael
Stella Papamichael
Digital Spy

Basically, what starts as a sharp comedy ends up - like most Radio 1 DJs - just going on. And on. And on. And on....

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
04/03/09
Tim Evans
Tim Evans
Sky Movies
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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Latest News for The Boat That Rocked

October 04, 2009: New: Brand New Trailer and Poster. Opens in new window
More...

September 07, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis has a plan. "What I've decided is to choose recent films," he explains to RT. "I do think that often people get stuck in always saying the five greatest films of... More...

May 03, 2009: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
More...

April 02, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Bill Nighy
There can be few actors better suited to starring in a film about the golden age of British rock and roll than Bill Nighy. No wonder, then, that he's front and centre as part of... More...

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