Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Nick Frost
"Pirate Radio" is the high-spirited story of how eight DJs' love affair with rock 'n' roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s, this group of rogue DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atl...( read more
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Stats: 4,648 reviews
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Flixster Reviews (4,648)
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November 27, 2009Great music and a good cast of odd Englishmen. The "rock'n'roll" is banned on radio concept is overblown and really insignificant in my opinion because rock music was alive and thriving not only in the UK but especially the US, the biggest market. Richard Curtis is a great writ...( read more)
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November 26, 2009Nice quirky little flick this, decent British line up of the usual top funny people and Hoffman adding an American touch of class. Its a nice film with a great oldies soundtrack but its also alittle dull, nothing too much happening throughout really, just nice musical montages an...( read more)
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November 21, 2009Gavin Cavanagh: Here's a rather long record. I hope I'm here at the end of it.
A very sitcomy, ensemble comedy that makes a fictitious, funny, but uneven story out of actual events. The cast features Capote, Davy Jones, Sgt. Butterman, Hamlet, Nigel 'The Leg' Gruff, and Murray...( read more) -
November 12, 2009Fun but dissapointing. Story is all over the place. Bill Nighty is the standout.
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November 12, 2009After a delayed North American release and a title change, "Pirate Radio" (known in the UK as "The Boat that Rocked") finally makes it's way to an American audience. The film, although boasting a prestigious cast and director, isn't so much awards bait as it is a welcome distract...( read more)
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December 7, 2009Maybe I am emotionally defective, but I cried my way through this movie. It just bummed me out so much that the fascist 60s British government was so fearful of that which they did not understand that they all but banned popular music on mainstream radios, and went to massive ext...( read more)
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December 6, 2009"Cuz if you shoot a bullet, someone dies. When you drop a bomb, many die. You hit a woman, love dies. But... if you say the f-word, nothing actually happens."
Slammed by critics, presumably due to their bias against director Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill), this i...( read more) -
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December 4, 2009This movie is pretty amazing. i love Bill Nighy. and Jack Davenport is in this too (Norrington from PotC).
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Critic Reviews
November 13, 2009
Kurt Loder, MTV
November 13, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today
The film's original title was The Boat That Rocked. Indeed, these freewheeling, swinging '60s DJs braved their own Titanic to keep on rocking in the free world. full review
November 12, 2009
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
The boat nearly sinks from character overload, and Curtis brakes when you most want him to gun it. But there's no denying the comic energy of the cast. full review
November 12, 2009
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
Despite Curtis' bumbling, Pirate Radio manages to stay afloat bravely enough -- at least until the climax, which comes off as a confused marriage between Top of the Pops and Titanic. full review
November 12, 2009
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
This might sound like a sentimental recipe, but Richard Curtis, who wrote and directed, keeps the spirit fresh and anarchic. full review
November 12, 2009
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Imagine the dullest moments from Almost Famous and the lamest bits from Animal House held together with clumsy Frankenstein stitching. Now punch yourself in the face. There you go. full review
November 12, 2009
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
Pirate Radio takes a great story -- the hugely popular offshore radio stations that illegally broadcast pop and rock in 1960s Britain -- and turns it into an aggressively irritating floating frat-part... full review
November 12, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Here the plot doesn't require a reason for the characters to keep running into one another; there's nowhere they can hide. No coincidences means more development. And the wall-to-wall '60s rock keeps ... full review
November 8, 2009
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
Writer-director Richard Curtis is about as rock n' roll as the average great-grandmother, so it's no surprise that Pirate Radio, his ode to the irrepressible spirit of '60s classic rock, has all the e... full review
April 3, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times
A woebegone crew of comedy turns worthy of a bad Carry On film. full review
Comments
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November 2, 2009OMG, This is a must see on my movie list. It looks like its going to be pretty funny from what I’ve seen in the trailer clips. I know its going to make me reminisce especially because it was during the time when classic rock hits were made! I’ve been listening to their station on iheartradio online iheartradio.com/pirateradio and its just amazing. It’s making me so anxious to see Pirate Rock. I love it, Rock n Roll is never too old.
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