Courtesy of Focus Feature

Everyone knows the story, well everyone should know the story.  Some of you might be too young.

Back in the sixties, probably the best rock decades in the history of music, if not one of the best.  Rock was actually banned from airing on the radios.  The doing of uptight bureaucrats who believe that listening to rock & roll will taint and corrupt the mind of its people.  Could you believe that?  People actually think that rock & roll is bad for you.  Kind of like what todays uptight bureaucrat believe of rated ‘R’ movies and violent video games, or what Reverend Shaw Moore thought of dancing in Footloose.

Because it was illegal to broadcast rock & roll, radio station outsmarted the government and decided to broadcast from boats in international waters, where the government had no authority, and this is where this movie picks up.

The movie follows the lives of 8 rogue radio DJs of the most popular pirate radio station of its time, Radio Rock, they all pretty  much lives on this boat off the coast of England.  The movie is all about the love and fun of rock & roll and it shows it with 8 different but eclectic characters, but it is not without any drama.  The government is trying everything it can to try to shut them down.  The government would rather have its people listen to classical music and jazz than have their airwaves polluted with rock & roll.  There is also the drama of ego and discoverence.  All this adds up to one funny movie.

It is a british movie, so you have to be ready for that.  Surprisingly, the comedy isn’t as dry as you would expect, but it isn’t as laugh out loud funny as it was touted.  The story and writing is pretty good, but it is pretty garbled at times.  The one thing that does live up to the movie and it shouldn’t be any surprise is the music.  The music is absolutely fabulous.

This is an absolutely great assemble cast.  Philip Seymour Hoffman first of all is probably the best actor today, bar none.  Add that with a who’s who of british actors and this makes for one great cast and they don’t disappoint.  You even have the entire The IT Crowd cast in this movie.

The movie is funny and witty with some drama to advance the story.  It has an absolute great soundtrack and cast.  But the story and editing sometimes feel garbled, plus I liked the original title, The Boat That Rocked, better than US title, Pirate Radio.

Pirate Radio gets a 3.5 out of 5.

Little spoiler.  The end credit has the cover art of a bunch of albums.  The one that stood out for me.  Taylor Swift – Fearless.