Yeah I know, look how quickly I have returned to write yet another review. And you all thought I would be ages again...pah; ye of little faith. In truth I am only back this early due to the harassment of a certain small blond German, who kept insisting that I watch The Boat That Rocked and then review it instantly; and as a precaution, to not get on her bad side, I did as I was told, and therfore found myself squinting at the opening credits the way you may squint at the end of a hosepipe that is about to spray acid into your face at any given moment and I prepared my brain for the worst; after all, what could Richard Curtis produce that wasn't a steaming pile of cack?!
Its actually pretty good
I so wanted it to be bad, reeeeaaally bad, like when you see fat ugly people on Britain's Got Talent, and you secretly hope that they fall flat on their face or get booed off stage for being so shit, but against all my wishes I found myself enjoying a film by Richard Curtis. The same man who brought you such vomit inducing shit heaps such as Love Actually, Notting Hill and the bearable Four Weddings and a Funeral (which would have been great if they had cast somebody other than Hugh Grant and Andie McDowell); also he looks like somebody stretched skin over the comparethemarket.com meerkat
The Boat That Rocked is the story of pirate radio in the 1960s, the story opening with an explaination that in the 60s, BBC radio only played 45 minutes of popular and rock music a day, and this certainly wasn't enough for those mini skirt wearing, drug taking, casual sex loving kids. They wanted...nay...they NEEDED 24/7/365 popular rock and roll, and Radio Rock was there to answer their call. We follow Carl (Tom Sturridge), who is sent by his mother to spend time away from home on the Radio Rock ship with his Godfather Quentin (the ever brilliant Bill Nighy) after he was expelled from his school for smoking...both cigarettes and drugs apparently. Carl gets to witness the goings on in the lives of the most loved DJs in the land, as they broadcast through the night and through the day supplying the masses with their latest hit of rock and roll. Thing is, I can't really go on, as there isn't a normal plot to this film, that is kind of all that happens, well, I mean, there are events throughout, but I don't want to ruin that for you, but The Boat That Rocks is not your normal narrative.
The film plays out more like nostalgia than it does a simple narrative storyline, it feels like you would appreciate the film a lot more if you were alive in the 60s and actually listened to these pirated radio shows, which of course I didn't. It feels a bit like Curtis is grasping desperately at a time gone by, like those 55 year old Punk rockers in Camden, still wearing some Doc Martens and a spiky Mohawk; Curtis is trying to prove that he was cool once before he started writing films that should have all been named "Vagina!". I could almost hear him calling through the screen "look at meeee, i used to do things that were slightly taboo yet not quite illegal! How edgy am I!" but in all honesty you would have a hard time in picking any normal Richard Curtis blueprints on this film if you weren't told he wrote and directed it beforehand. It is just so different to his normal crap that I kept double checking the DVD case to make sure I didn't read it wrong. Despite me not being born in the 50s and therefore attached to the subject a bit more closely, I still enjoyed it, and here is why....the cast.
Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, who is super awesome, plays The Count, a mad hatter American who spends more time dancing around his booth than speaking to the audience (reminded me a lot of his character in Almost Famous actually), Rhys Ifans (that crazy Welsh bastard) plays the legendary pirate DJ Gavin Canavagh, whose arrival causes some stir up amongst the current staff. The is another Rhys here too, in Rhys Darby (of The Flight of the Concords fame) who is brilliant as the slightly unhinged Angus Nutsford. There are too many brilliant actors to list really, we have Nick Frost, Kenneth Brangagh, Jack Davenport to name a few; not to mention the mad babes all over the place, including January Jones
Gemma Arterton 
and Talulah Riley 
Did I have to add photos you ask? YEAH I DID! and now everyone in the computer lab is looking at me like I am some kind of a perv. But I do not care people, it had to be done.
After the talent of the cast there is the soundtrack, oooohohhhhh the sound track, it can't really be put into wortds how good it was, so I shall give you an image instead
That's right, heads will explode...a lot.... everywherrrrrrrrrrrre!
Lastly, the best thing that Curtis could have done with the film, is that he left out all of his typically cringe worthy romantic lovey dovey stuff. I am all for films that have a romantic theme, but not Richard Curtis films, hell noooo, he should stick to making films like this, films that are funny and feel good, and the more he does that, the further he will move away from his horrendous reputation as the Roland Emmerich of Romance and he willl perhaps become respected in film circles. You are almost there Rich, go on my son.
Anyway
Till next time
Peace
No comments:
Post a Comment