The Boat That Rocked (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:21
Rotten:18
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: The good cast and rollicking soundtrack eventually drown when this comic homage to pirate radio loses its quippy steam.
Rated: R [See Full Rating]
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Nov 30, 1999 Wide
Synopsis: Pirate Radio is the high-spirited story of how 8 DJs love affair with Rock n Roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s this group of rouge DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic,... [More]
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost
Director: Richard Curtis
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Reviews for The Boat That Rocked
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
 C |
There's a bit of everything in Curtis' structurally messy, endlessly repititious comedy: nostalgia for good music, irreverent humor and sentimentality, wild deejays, virginal boy who needs to get laid, son who needs to find his father, even a lesbian cook Full Review |
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 3/5 |
This blast of Sixties nostalgia, derived from the days when pirate radio ships broadcast off the coast of Britain with a motley crew of dee-jays, should appeal to ageing music freaks and fans of Brit-pop. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
An energetic, semi-farcical comedy romp blessed with a great ensemble cast, some gloriously tasteless jokes and a soundtrack of period hits. Full Review |
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At its best, the film has a warm-hearted camaraderie that's contagious, but it's a vision of the '60s that feels like it's been test screened to within an inch of its life, with no rough edges and no real sense of danger. Full Review |
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It's a clever crowd-pleaser. You'll walk away knowing that you'll see it again. Full Review |
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3/5 |
A lot of The Boat That Rocked is fun but it could, and should, have been a great deal more fun than it is. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
The film itself is not irritating, although it's so relentlessly cheery that it could have been. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Curtis has failed to give us characters we can really like. Full Review |
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Looking back for a suitably rousing episode from our national past, Curtis has alighted on Dunkirk, a tragedy narrowly averted, which he reprises as mirthless, feelgood farce. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Curtis ambitiously stirs action and tragedy into his usual mix of romance, comedy and politics, but the resulting film is all over the place. It looks and sounds great, but none of the elements come together. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Sensational stuff from one of the best writers of his generation and a film which will appeal to every age. Full Review |
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2/6 |
‘The Ship That Sank’ would be a more appropriate title for writer-director Richard Curtis’s latest and most disappointing entertainment. It’s a cripplingly self-conscious and self-satisfied tribute. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
A great movie? No. Great entertainment? Not arf! Full Review |
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1/5 |
The rom-com glue that has turned every other Curtis film into box-office gold is absent. This is a listless, sketchy mess. Full Review |
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2/5 |
The movie is boisterous, sentimental and worryingly deficient in laughs for a worryingly large amount of the time. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Well over two hours long, the film outstays its welcome, but it does have some truly magical moments that outshine anything Curtis has done before. Full Review |
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4/5 |
It's a delight to be in the company of this crew, so much so that you'll be tempted to book a roundtrip. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Basically, what starts as a sharp comedy ends up - like most Radio 1 DJs - just going on. And on. And on. And on.... Full Review |
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4/5 |
At its best, this is as engaging, funny and warmly moving as Richard Curtis’s finest work.
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2/5 |
Curtis hangs situation and character comedy on a homage to rock’n’roll. That would be fine if it were funny, but auto-pilot Curtis prevails. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for The Boat That Rocked
October 04, 2009:
New: Brand New Trailer and Poster. 
More...
September 07, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis has a plan. "What I've decided is to choose recent films," he explains to RT. "I do think that often people get stuck in always saying the five greatest films of... More...
May 03, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
April 02, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Bill Nighy
There can be few actors better suited to starring in a film about the golden age of British rock and roll than Bill Nighy. No wonder, then, that he's front and centre as part of... More...
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