Pirate Radio does little more than present us with lots of good rock n roll, but at least it does that well. As for the story, humor, and acting; well, no so much on that front. It is never bad really, but it is also never really compelling. The story is much more interesting in theory than how it was actually presented on film. I only wish that they could have made a truly exciting or humorous film to go along with the good music.
The acting was solid and did not diminish the quality of the movie in any way. Unfortunately, we have plenty of unused talent here that could have truly made the film great with better writing. Philip Seymour Hoffman was perfect for the part, but his lines are about as interesting as the “made to be boring” government officials. I will give it credit for a few really good moments involving Hoffman, but nothing that was able to wake the audience up. There is not enough interesting dialogue to get any of the characters off of the ground.
The directing is also to blame for the dulled humor and somewhat slow presentation of the story. There are so many missed opportunities for great laughs and actually meaningful emotion that it gets quite frustrating at times. Nothing really worked badly, but it could have been much better most of the time. One thing that turned out quite good was the setting; the old ship made for an interesting location. It also allowed a stark contrast to the “boring” people on the mainland that were trying to stop the radio station from broadcasting. Another good addition was all of the reactions of listeners of the station and all of their different routines. It gave a good impression of how many listeners there were for the radio station and how they were from all walks of life. It is odd that it still felt like little actually happened. The main failure may have been the boring subplot of the newcomer on the ship. This subplot could have been a good one, but the audience is never given much reason to root for the character or even care for him as he goes through all of his struggles in his new home.
Pirate Radio was a film I was anxiously looking forward to seeing so it was a shame to find out how mediocre it was. If you are a fan of the music of that time then this movie should have enough of it to keep you entertained. If you mix that with the few jokes that actually get delivered properly and you have a decent film. That is all Pirate Radio is though; decent. Every time it felt like a punch line for a good joke was coming it just fell flat on its face. The directing, writing, and acting were all clean, but the only thing that stood out as good was the music. I guess they got so caught up in the music that they forgot to make an inspiring film or maybe that was just never the intention. Either way you are bound to be disappointed in the actual movie.
The Skinny Version
Raw Score: 701,776
Sharon Movie? No
Director: Richard Curtis
Writer: Richard Curtis
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Music/Romance
