This is one of the few movies I saw because of a poster. It's not an especially well-done image, but it did get me curious. Even when I'd learned little more than the very different original homeland title, The Boat That Rocked, I wanted to give it a try. The facts that I didn't notice anyone talking about it and that it fared poorly at the box office made little difference to me.
In the late '60s, BBC Radio won't meet the demand for rock music, so a broad swath of the public turns to unlicensed stations playing from ships at sea. (So that's how both titles work!) The story follows the people at one station in particular, uncreatively dubbed "Radio Rock." They have their various episodes, but the main conflict concerns ongoing government efforts to shut them down.
PR was loosely inspired by true stories, and I could almost believe it was faithful. Perhaps the most flagrant exaggeration is Minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh), leading the charge and hardly caring how overwhelmingly popular his chosen opposition is or how tyrannical he has to get to stop it. Dishonorable mentions go to his associates pointedly named Twatt (Jack Davenport) and Clitt (Sinead Matthews). Yeah, rock non-fans are depicted with all the sympathetic nuance of a Twisted Sister video. That seems common in fiction about music. I'd give them more props if they focused on simply tamping down on swearing and other objectionable content occasionally aired.
If anyone on the ship can be called the protagonist, it's late teen Carl (Tom Sturridge), godson of the station director (Bill Nighy). His mom (Emma Thompson) sends him aboard after his expulsion for drug use, ostensibly to help clean up his act. Does she have no idea what goes on besides DJing, or does she have an ulterior motive, as unorthodox-thinking roommate "Thikc" Kevin (Tom Brooke) theorizes? At any rate, it's not long before certain men on board encourage him to lose his cherry to one visiting woman (Gemma Arterton) or another (Talulah Riley).
Indeed, most of the subplots concern sex. None between crew members, tho, since they're all straight men except for a lesbian (Katherine Parkinson). In particular, they have disagreements on where to draw the line for ethics in a libertine era. I won't go into details about the many characters; just know that the better-known actors include Philip Seymour Hoffman as a token American ironically nicknamed "The Count" (no wonder he's big on rebelling against authoritarianism), Rhys Ifans as a super-cool DJ coming out of retirement, and Nick Frost as an improbable ladies' man.
As British comedies go, PR is pretty funny, if a bit intense at the climax. But I have to wonder how much I'd enjoy it if I didn't dig classic rock. I recognized about a third of the 30+ numbers on the soundtrack, and all were at least easy on the ears. In my giddier moments, I got up and danced, which made me a little glad I didn't watch in a theater.
BTW, the American cut has four fewer songs, because it runs about 20 minutes shorter in response to complaints. Some viewers thought nearly two hours was still too long. Me, I stayed through the end credits but didn't think to look at the deleted scenes or other DVD bonuses.
Richard Curtis continues to be a mixed bag to my mind. Still, I'm glad I didn't shy away from this.
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