An important part of modern musical history is covered in this small movie, which has opened and closed with little fanfare and less studio marketing support. You might want to rent this movie, especially if you are my age, you love the rock and roll music of that era, and you remember the years circa 1966 which are covered here.

This movie is exceptionally well cast with two of my favorite actors in the persons of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who portrays "The Count," an American disk jockey lured to this disreputable venture, and Bill Nighy, who plays Quentin, the apparent financier and owner of the pirate ship and radio station. 

Nick Frost and Rhys Ifans also offer strong performances as two other disk jockeys, as do all of the minor players too numerous to mention in a story centering around nineteen year old Carl (Tom Sturridge) being sent aboard by his hippy mother to be cared for by his godfather, who just happens to be Quentin. Carl falls in love and comes of age amidst the high jinks and low jinks during the few months he spends aboard the creaky vessel. In the meantime we get a history lesson, including a farcical performance by Kenneth Branaugh sporting a Hitler-esque mustache as the minister charged with finding a reason to shut down the pirate radio station.

Unfortunately, the undeniable talent on-screen cannot salvage what turns out to be a muddled and lackluster script. That is not this movie's only failing, but it is the most important one. This movie was originally titled "The Boat That Rocked" for its home audience, but someone with a little too much time on their hands decided that a name change was in order for export purposes. The weak American box office receipts evidence that the new name hasn't helped in the marketing of this film. 

More obvious than this little bit of silliness is the fact that the producers committed the cardinal sin of being musically incorrect. Once again, some small-minded bozo made the utterly nonsensical decision that a broader musical mix was necessary in order to attract a younger and more diverse audience to the theater. I went to hear music from the rock and roll pioneering greats during the Fifties and early Sixties, and instead I am "treated" to music from the Seventies, Eighties, and later as well. How could a pirate radio station operating in 1966 broadcast music from forty years in the future? This film didn't draw in the younger audience (there was no one younger than fifty in the theater where we saw it on its opening weekend), and it ended up insulting those of us who came to be inspired by the music that we loved as teenagers. (B - Rent it, at best.)