THE BOAT THAT ROCKED (2009) **1/2 The story of British pirate radio-rockin' against staid society and stuffy parliament and the hopeless and grotesquely unhip queen-is a brilliant one, an incredible one. I especially like the part about Pete Townshend offering to go out there and play Rolling Stones songs to "keep their music before the public" when the vulgarians were trying to put them in jail. Unfortunately this is none of that. This is a silly disjointed thing that can't figure out what it's about, and as a result isn't about much. To make matters worse it goes on way too long for such a slight effort. Which actually turns out to be good, as, the last half hour or so-after flailing around somewhere between mercilessly and hopelessly-they actually do somehow catch some of the spirit of it all, and then what a wonderful thing it is! Warms you right up, makes you glad they did it after all, rehabilitated from debasing the value and everything... However much most of the film lags, there are some impressive performances: Bill Nighy in that role he's always great at as the debauched but elegant aristocrat, Rhys Darby as what Brian Jones would have been like if he'd been a DJ (not dressed quite as cool, but an impossibility, obviously), and (until he speaks) Tom Wisdom as what Jim Morrison would have been like as a DJ if he was British and silent and looked and smoked a little bit more like Jimmy Page. Oh, and the bad guys, too!: Michael Hadley as the totem of constipated government that's still stuck to this day, and Jack Davenport as the younger ass smart enough to know better but willing to do his master's bidding in the sole pursuit of self-enrichment. In other words, the last two decades of the 20th century. If it gets kind of cheesy as the very end, yeah, well, it's only bloody rock 'n' roll, mate, yeah?
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Reviews won't do it any more! I want to buy your spectacular new terrorist novel, ulrike's weinglas, gudrun's violin...
I've already read all of your novels. They are brilliant. Thank you, on behalf of myself and future generations. Now I want to check out your weekly blog on everything