Pirate Radio (2009)

[Edgy MD]

Edgy DC, somewhat insensible as he collapses into his hotel room, inadvertantly purchases Pirate Radio, wherein a bunch of 1960s rebel rowdies broadcast rock 'n' roll to British listeners from a boat anchored in the Northern Sea.

[Guest themetfairy]

Great concept, but dreadfully boring execution.

[Frayed Knot]

I think a handful of movies got worse advance reviews than this one -- but you may have to go back to 'Ishtar' to find one.

[ashie62]

Seymour-Hoffman has probably given up reading scripts first for cashing paychecks

[Edgy MD]

I'm just disappointed that two others here saw it. I was hoping this pain was mine and mine alone.

Heavy hitters in the lineup like Bill Nighy and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Then it's rounded out with solid role players like Rhys Ifans and Nick Frost. Coming off the bench are former All Stars like Kenneth Brannagh and Emma Thompson (in what must be the first film they share since their divorce, though they never share a scene), but stack it all up and what you get is a big brown floating lump of shit.

[Guest themetfairy]

I didn't just see it. I saw it during its theatrical release.

All the pain PLUS movie theater prices!

[Guest sharpie]

Well I, like Edgy, paid hotel room prices which are a lot more.

One could see where Philip Seymour Hoffman thought it would be a good idea -- shooting for a couple of weeks on a boat in the sun playing a rock 'n' roll dude -- but one should never use that criteria for a role.

[TransMonk]

I caught this last night on cable (after being shocked at my lack of film watching over the past couple of years). I thought it was pretty OK.

First off, the soundtrack was amazing. I thought the characters were great and some of the hijinks were funny. I really enjoyed Brannagh's character. The ending was stupid, but there are few that aren't anymore.

Hokey and predictable? Yes. But it was moderately enjoyable to me.

[Edgy MD]

The soundtrack was... it was an excuse for a soundtrack. "Let's name a character Eleanor so we can play the Turtles song!" They do everything they can to pretend the Beatles don't exist, even though they represent the vanguard of the revolution these guys are living. They aren't referred to either by the protagonists or their enemies. They work in two Stones songs, but their heavy hitters are typically the Kinks. When they use the Who, they play an anachronistic "Won't Get Fooled Again" which would still be five years away.

Even as a rock 'n' roll film, it felt terribly anachronistic. Rock 'n' roll wasn't about hairy mushy guys resisting middle age and looking for ever deeper album cuts from the Grateful Dead until the seventies. Carl is the nerd on the boat, but --- handsome, thin, young, and mod --- he should have been the hero. Emporer Rosko, the real guy on whom Hoffman's character was based, would have been 24 or 25 at that time.