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 In 1966, the story goes, the British government banned rock music from the airwaves (spare a couple hours per week) and, in retaliation, several boats appeared off the coast of the U.K. and began to broadcast rock and roll to the masses 24 hours a day. While the facts behind this story are hardly accurate, it could make for a good story of push and pull from government forces and the will and joy of the people. What writer/director Richard Curtis has created with Pirate Radio, though, is a very safe, fluffy piece of filmmaking that never wants to take any emotional responsibility for any of the events that occur during the movie.
Filmed and edited like a rock and roll video itself, Pirate Radio is a fun film full of energy and excitement; a trip into the wild life of the handful of DJs who piloted this massive boat off the coast of the Queen’s country and played whatever they wanted, said whatever they wanted and partied the whole time through. The film is packed with entertaining performances from the likes of Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Nick Frost and Kenneth Branagh, who plays the government bad guy who wants to shut down pirate radio.
 It cannot be denied that Pirate Radio is an entertaining film; the music rocks and the pacing of the film feels about right, but in the end, that’s about the only thing that can be said about the movie. While there are moments that hint of poignancy and meaning, Curtis almost immediately glosses over anything that can bear any emotional weight and turns these moments into jokes or moments of anemic levity. It’s a shame, too, because there is great fodder during the events of the film for some wonderful emotional moments that are just never taken advantage of.
One of the biggest disappointments in Pirate Radio is Curtis’ absolute lack of interest in how the boat came to be formed. Audiences spend a couple hours with these characters, but afterward we find that we hardly know them. Viewers get a taste of their wild personalities, an idea as to how they relate to each other, but we never really get to know who they are or why they’re on the boat. Yes, they’re all rebels, they’re all rock and roll heroes in their own way, but what drives them? Who are they?
 The story is largely told from the point of view of young Carl (Tom Sturridge), the godson of the captain of the ship, Quentin (Nighy). Once he arrives on-board, there is the predictable hazing and some awkward moments of him getting comfortable on the ship, which all leads to the inevitable moment when he becomes one of the guys in his own way. There is a fantastic subplot where he believes his father is one of the DJs on the boat, but this, like every other emotional possibility in the script, is completely minimized and used only as a plot device.
The flip side of all of the partying and coming-of-age happenings is the story of the government officials, led by Sir Alistair Dormandy (Branagh), who are determined to shut down the “filth” that is broadcasting from the high seas. This side of the story, again, presents such possibilities for excellent tension between our heroes and the powers that be, but all of their attempts to shut down the boat are watered down to the point of being barely understandable. Every 20 minutes or so, the audience is “treated” to a scene of Dormandy and his lackeys having a new plan after his most recent plan didn’t work for some vaguely explained reason. It’s trivialized so much as to never feel like any kind of a real threat to the station, and the whole side plot of the government trying to shut them down is easily forgotten.
Even when the crew is actually in danger, Curtis still treats the events with a ham-handed sense of “the rock will live forever!” and Radio’s finale ultimately feels hollow and meaningless.
 There have been successful comedies that have treated inspirational events appropriately and have been able to bring both laughs and tears of joy. Pirate Radio, however, is not one of those films. While Radio attempts to be somewhat daring in its take on the government and its need to control people, when all is said and done, Curtis’ film takes the easy road and gives audiences a weak but enjoyable foray into safe rebellion.
Pirate Radio is now playing in theaters everywhere.
For more information, visit the film’s official Web site.
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