The Boat That Rocked was released in the UK on April 1, 2009. It was 135 minutes long, and didn’t go over so well with the critics. As a result, it was cut down to 117 minutes, re-titled Pirate Radio, and released in the U.S. more than half a year later on November 13th. It did even worse, pulling in only $8 million.

The film tells the story of a fictitious group of Radio DJs broadcasting illegal Rock and Roll music from their mooring post in the North Sea, during the mid 1960′s. Our introduction to this motley crew of rock-a-holics is through the inception of young Carl (Tom Sturridge) to their midst. Carl has been expelled from his boarding school for smoking (tobacco and other things) and sent to the boat by his mum, who hopes a little sea air will set him right. It soon becomes clear that his stint on the boat will do anything but.

Pirate Radio is very much an ensemble piece. At its heart, the film is about a group of people living together on a boat, having fun while doing what they love. But in no way does that mean they all get along. The top billed character is ‘The Count’ (Philip Seymour Hoffman) a proud American DJ with a cavalier attitude, and a knack for breaking the rules. He works under the pseudo-command of Quentin (a very flamboyant Bill Nighy) the ship’s captain, and Carl’s godfather. Nick Frost puts in a thoroughly amusing performance as ‘Dr. Dave’, another radio personality with a bit of a mean streak. About 30 minutes into the film, DJ Gavin Kavanagh (Rhys Ifans), a formerly retired radio legend, joins the crew of ‘Radio Rock’. Rounding out the list are ‘Simple’ Simon (Chris O’Dowd), Angus the New Zealand Nut (Rhys Darby), Midnight Mark (Tom Wisdom), DJ Smooth Bob (Ralph Brown), Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke), radio assistant Harold (Ike Hamilton), and shy lesbian cook Felicity (Katherine Parkinson).

Similar to Cameron Crowe‘s Almost Famous, Pirate Radio tells a coming of age story set to the tumultuous Rock and Roll period that was the 60′s. But instead of focusing on a single character, Pirate Radio is able to branch out and very cohesively tell the story of a group of people with strikingly different personalities. Writer/Director Richard Curtis (Love Actually) puts in a great homage to the era, while still taking enough artistic liberty to make the film truly funny. For instance, he does a great job with the figures in the British government, choosing classic bad guy campiness over historical accuracy, prompting lines such as “That’s the whole point of being the government, if you don’t like something, you make it illegal.” Also he names one of the bad guys Twatt, making it impossible to take him seriously.

The movie, as Curtis envisioned it, would require a good

three hours of run time. This is due to his drive to develop the vast number of characters on the boat into relatable human beings. I think he could have gotten away with cutting out smaller characters like Angus or Thick Kevin, leaving more time for the development of the more important ones. Also, a lot of the film’s heart is found in sections that do nothing to further the plot, and as a result of this were cut from the movie for the sake having a manageable runtime.

Because of this, the DVD contains over an hour of scenes that didn’t make the final cut. This is unforgiveable, as everything that turns Pirate Radio from a good film to a great film is found in these discarded segments. It is a terrible tragedy that so few people will get to see the full film; with all of its elements in place, it’s an amazing piece of work.

Movie Grade: B

DVD Features Grade: A+

Overall Grade: A-