Boat that Rocked Trailer

I think we all knew that when Richard Curtis decided to create a film based loosely on the notorious Radio Caroline, it’d be a mistake.

Curtis is good, brilliant in fact, at creating successful modern British romantic comedies (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’ Diary and the exceptional Love Actually, not a bad run eh?). However this deviation from the safe shores of London, modern day and well, Hugh Grant is an expected disappointment.

Radio Rock is a pirate station operating from a boat in the North Sea in the 1960s. Eighteen-year-old Carl (Tom Sturridge) is expelled from his private school and sent to spend time on the boat with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy). Thus far a seamless introduction to what could’ve been a rocking film. The unnecessarily busy plot means that this boat gently lists from side to side rather than actually ‘rocking.’ Carl makes several friends on the boat, which elicits a multitude of superfluous sub-plots: a miss-match marriage, an Anglo-American rivalry, a lonely lesbian, a silent orgy-loving stud and many many more. On top of all this, every second Saturday an influx of young women are invited onto the boat for a bit of an inoffensive frolic. The frolicking is inoffensive, as is the tiny reference to illegal substances, as is the soundtrack; Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Kinks – all safe Radio 2 type stuff. So Curtis has effectively turned sex, drugs and rock n roll into cuddling, cups of tea and tracks from Wake Up To Wogan. Back on shore in England a further sub-plot involving government official Minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) evolves, producing the worst gag of the film. Years ago Curtis gave us the hilarious Black Adder character ‘Darling’. Laughs ensued as we questioned General Melchett’s sexual orientation. In a desperate attempt to rekindle these laughs, Curtis disastrously names Dormandy’s sidekick... ‘Twatt’.

To give some credit to Curtis he has assembled a brilliant cast – Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, Kenneth Branagh, Nick Frost, Jack Davenport, Chris O’Dowd and even the lovely Emma Thompson makes an appearance. However, Curtis does not use these fine actors wisely. Hence the best performances actually come from the fresh-faced young actors. Whilst Tom Sturridge is cute and very believable in his lead role, it is the young actresses, in particular who bring the fresh quality to the film. January Jones (who also plays one of the American girls in the bar in Love Actually) is radiant along with Talulah Riley and Gemma Arterton (of recent Quantum of Solace fame).

Curits is good at creating superlatively patriotic comedies, however shag-gags and diarrhoea based comedy, makes The Boat That Rocked a little too Carry On for my taste. The film is too long with too many characters. I think that perhaps Curtis should ignore his affinity to rock n roll and stick to what he’s best at, which is love, actually.

Score: 40%

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