Pirate Radio (The Boat that Rocked)

For the sheer amount of acting talent involved and the fact comedic writer Richard Curtis was at the helm, PIRATE RADIO should have been one heck of a funny film. It isn't and I'm not sure if Curtis or the investors/studio are to blame. When introducing the deleted scenes Curtis admits the best bits were in fact NOT included in the final print but he fails to tell us exactly why. In any case, he's right so if you are renting the DVD make sure you watch the extras before you take it back because this is where all of the funny bits are. Now, if you try and forget it's supposed to be a comedy and look at it as a British docudrama (it is all fiction mind you but loosely based on events and charactersof the era) then you'll enjoy PIRATE RADIO and the acting is top notch all around, it's merely the pacing which makes it mediocre. As always, Bill Nighy and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are great and it's fab to see Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson in he same film (not at the same time!) again but once again Rhys Ifans steals the show especially a killer scene in the "deletes" I mentioned. As one would expect from a dilm dealing with a 60's radio station the soundtrack is super but sadly I suspect it has a better chance of ending up in your personal collection than the DVD does.