(2009) Long live rock 'n' roll. The music will never die. In the North Sea, for broadcasting otherwise banned rock-'n'-roll songs to millions of listeners in the United Kingdom from the Radio Rock ship in the 1960s, Quentin (Bill Nighy) has assembled a crew in director/writer Richard Curtis's hi-fidelity comedy very loosely based on actual events.

"In motion on the ocean," the signal at 203 meters in the medium waveband all day and night, three years into their floating enterprise in 1966 with plenty of advertising for an audience of 25 million, enjoying "the best days of our lives," the Count of Cool (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the only American, and his fellow deejays - "big but very beautiful" Dr Dave (Nick Frost), nutty Angus Nutsford (Rhys Darby), Simple Simon Swafford (Chris O'Dowd), quiet-spoken, mysteriously alluring Midnight Mark (Tom Wisdom), and the reclusive ("total immersion in the vinyl" with lots of drugs and sleep) bearded beast, "Smooth" Bob Silver (Ralph Brown) the Dawn Treader - spin the tunes and engage in profane pronouncements, creating aggravation for Her Majesty's government of "dirty and irresponsible commercialism and low morals" over the airwaves.

"Governments loathe people being free," pronounces dastardly Sir Alistair Dormandy of the Prime Minister's counsel, thus governments make up new laws to make illegal anything disapproved; he assigns to Dominic Twatt (Kenneth Branagh) with assistant Miss Clitt the task of getting rid of the radio pirates within the year.

Sent by his mother to be with his godfather Quentin (who refers to the woman as a "sexual legend") to get on the straight and narrow ("spectacular mistake") after being expelled from prep school ("proud of you"), 18-year-old Carl (Tom Sturridge) eventually finds his place among the crew and staff - including his roommate Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke), the lesbian cook Felicity (Katherine Parkinson), News John Mayford (William Adamsdale) of weather and information collection, and studio engineer Harold (Ike Hamilton); they often play games of honesty that reveal their sordid pasts.

Speculation arises as to the real reason for young Carl's arrival being that his dad (whom he's never known) is someone aboard. On the second Saturdays female company of DJs is permitted on the Love Boat: Dr Dave ham-handedly attempts to arrange for Carl's first sexual encounter with Desiree (Gemma Arterton). Later for a birthday present Quentin introduces the still-virginal Carl to his gorgeous niece, "the sweetest and prettiest girl in he world," Marianne (Talulah Riley); Leonard Cohen's song says it all: "Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began/ to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again."

Countering the government's move to make advertising illegal, Quentin hires "the most famous popular broadcaster ever," the strange and legendary (on the turntable "Jumpin' Jack Flash") Gavin Canavagh (Rhys Ifans), making his return to "the 'pubic' air" of radio - "Take me to the microphone … Are you doing something dirty?... Open your knees and feel the breeze" - after a mysterious absence "to America, ambition, and alcoholic poisoning."

Following Simple Simon's wedding ("Jesus Christ alone knows why she's marrying him") to "total goddess" Elenore (January Jones) - "Elenore, gee, I think you're swell,/ And you really do me well,/ You're my pride and joy" by The Turtles - the Count declares war against Gavin, who excuses his conduct by saying: "It's the dark side of rock 'n' roll."

Over the Christmas holidays, Carl's mum, Charlotte (Emma Thompson), arrives, while Twatt finally presents Sir Dormandy with the Marine Offences Act.

When Radio Rock goes full Titanic (the frigid waters during winter in the North Sea would have been deadly), the album Bob has attempted to salvage from his treasured collection, which Dr Dave dismisses as not worth keeping, is The 5,000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion by The Incredible String Band; however, this is a goof since the recording wasn't released until 1967, the year after the film's events take place.

Other songs in the soundtrack, such as "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens (1970), "Elenore" by The Turtles (1968), "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones (1968), "So Long Marianne" by Leonard Cohen (1967), "Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum (1967), and "Nights in White Satin" by the Moody Blues (1967), weren't available until after 1966 either. The Count's calling someone "dude" is anachronistic.

Also at the conclusion, what happened to the rest of the ship's crew not among the main cast?

(Editor's note: Events from more than a decade were compressed here into a short time period, including the sinking of the boat, which happened 14 years after this 1966 timeline, so anachronistic music isn't a "goof" any more than other events depicted out of historical order in this film's mythical timeline, including the Marine Offences Act of 1967.)

Nonetheless, this is a terrific, off-the-charts movie; and the DVD provides about three-quarters of an hour of even funnier bits cut from the main plot, including Dr Dave's demonstration to Carl with eggs how life's not fair, the pirates doing evil to a rival radio ship, the Count's taking the others to Abbey Road for Simon's stag party with a paean to the music of and parody of the movies of the Fabulous Four, and especially Gavin's back story (a masterpiece of music video) at a bar in Guatemala - "But I still haven't found what I'm looking for" - where he's brought to his feet and senses with a male and a female partner when "Get Off of My Cloud" (1967 by The Rolling Stones) gets punched on the jukebox.

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Copyright © 2010 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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