The premise is a good one; take a writer from the historical satire Blackadder, assemble a cast of first-rate comedy actors, and produce a well-funded madcap historical comedy set in the 1960s - as battle commences between Pirate Radio, and the establishment. It sounds like a formula too good to get wrong; and yet this film just never seems to get going, to convince or capture the imagination. This film is excessively long too - and that doesn't seem to be because the plot demands it; but rather it is the lack of a compelling central plot that makes the sub-plots and asides expand uncontrollably into the vacuum.
It would be all too easy to critique the historical niceties of the film, especially in regards to social attitudes and ethics; but that would be to miss the point. Writer Richard Curtis deliberately caricatures the boat crew as representing the 60s and their wild totally unrestrained artistic, sexual and chemical hedonism, in total contrast to the establishment caricatures who are cringingly square, repressed and repressive. While in reality things were far more complex - and neither side was quite so appalling; Curtis seeks to harness the popular myth of the 60s as a comedy device.
The problem with this comedy isn't the crude retelling of history - its just that such a darn good cast, are allowed to fizzle and fade; without a compelling narrative to get to grips with. The film comes across like a series of sketches as if it were the box-set of a sit-com series; rather than as a complete film. What's worse is that as a comedy - it lacked any genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. It finally comes to an end, with a whimper - and leaves the viewer with a prolonged feeling that despite the likes of Philip Seymour-Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh, and Bill Nighy doing their thing so well; this is a movie which sounds great in theory but fails to to live up to any of its potential. The boat may have rocked - the film certainly didn't!
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