Pirate Radio

If you're looking for a movie that revisits the good old days of 60's rock and roll, then Pirate Radio is the movie for you! Set in 1966 on a floating radio ship in the North sea near England, Pirate Radio is a hilarious comedy that shows the funny shenanigans and hijinks that radio DJ's find themselves in constantly while broadcasting from a radio station out in the open ocean.

In the movie, we are introduced to Carl (Tom Sturridge), who is sent to live with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy) after he is expelled from school. Quentin introduces Carl to the group of DJ's onboard that includes The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), New Zealand native Angus Nutsford (Rhys Darby), the cool yet quiet Midnight Mark ( Tim Wisdom), Dr. Dave (Nick Frost), Simple Simon (Chris O'Dowd), and the downright creepy DJ Smooth Bob (Ralph Brown). Carl is exposed to alot of free-wheeling, beautiful women who visit the ship on every "Splendid Saturday" as The Count refers to it. It's through these women that Dr. Dave introduces Carl to Marianne (Talulah Riley), who Carl immeditely develops feelings for. Simple Simon is also bitten by the lovebug with the stunning and charming Elenore (January Jones). After Simon and Elenore get married on the ship, Simon finds out that Elenore has developed feelings for legendary DJ Gavin Canavagh (Rhys Ifans). The Count along with all the other DJ's onboard, object strongly to Gavin's actions, so The Count challenges Gavin to a game of Chicken where they each climb up to the top if the ship's mast, and whoever travels furthest up the mast wins. The Count breaks his arm after jumping off the mast and landing into the ocean after Gavin calls him Chicken after he jumped in the ocean as well.

Meanwhile, back on the ship, Carl is surprised when Marianne returns to apologize for her actions previously when she slept with Dr. Dave instead of Carl, who just so happens to be Dr. Dave's niece. They make up pretty quickly and spend the night together and Carl winds up losing his virginity in the process, much to the celebration of all the DJ's onboard who just so happen to be outside his room. Carl is surprised to hear from his father that his mother Charlotte (Emma Thompson) is coming to visit the ship for Christmas. Carl confronts his mother and later finds out that Quentin is not his father, but Smooth Bob is his real father after Charlotte had a one night stand with him years ago.

Despite all the fans they have obtained through their radio station, there is an ongoing attempt to shut down Pirate Radio at the hands of Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh), who simply feels that if you don't like something such as Pirate Radio, you make up a law that makes it illegal. The British government decrees Pirate Radio to be illegal and anyone who is found to be listening to it will face harsh prison sentences. After a failed attempt to shut Pirate Radio down, the government sends out a cavalcade of boats to the Pirate Radio's anchored position in the North Sea, but they come across a fishing boat instead. The Purate Radio ship had activated his engines and has gone on the move to escape from the fleet of ships currently after them.

But the aging engines prove too much for the ship to handle, and the engines fail completely, causing the ship to sink. Eventually, all the crew members manage to escape courtesy of the large group of boats filled with Pirate Radio fans who have been hearing the news of the sinking through the radio and went out to help all the DJ's onboard. The soundtrack features a sensational assortment of rock hits from the 60's including The Kinks "All Day and All of the Night", The Beach Boys "Wouldn't It Be Nice", and The Who's "My Generation", an anthem for people growing up in the 60's and a song that best exemplifies the rebellious youth living in America, England, and in various countries all over the world who were making a bold statement about themselves and not allowing themselves to succumb to the powers that be and allowing a counterculture to take shape and flourish all around the world.

All in all, an enjoyable film that takes a look at an era in music where the world was on the edge of radical change, and the music that was being created at that time was the soundtrack to teenagers lives, who were rebelling against the norms mandated to them by the authority figures who felt threatened by the music simply because it wasn't like anything they have heard before.

                                                                                                                 Movie Score: 3.5/5