Pirate Radio

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The best of it has the comradely, free-swinging bawdiness of Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H."

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

A tale so raucous, raunchy and punch-drunk with love for the rebellious spirit of rawk -- and so disdainful of those who have tried to squelch it -- that it pretty much negates any claims to objectivity, let alone factuality. In other words, it's not a documentary.

New York Post Kyle Smith

For its wicked innocence, this is the finest rock movie since "Almost Famous."

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

If you want to know years in advance what old-age nostalgia is going to look like for Baby Boomers, look no further than Pirate Radio, in which the sun always shines, the music is great and the sex is available, guilt-free and glorious.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Classic rock enthusiasts will want to stick around through the end credit sequence, which features an array of album covers.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The result, although uneven, is generally enjoyable, especially for those who attend with the right mindset. Character and narrative are secondary concerns for a movie primarily driven to provide a Valentine to '60s rock-and-roll.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Richard Curtis is good at handling large casts, establishing all the characters and keeping them alive.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Pirate Radio does what it sets out to do. It rocks.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Richard Curtis's comedy is anchored only in exuberance, but that's more than you can say for most movies these days; it keeps you beaming with pleasure.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Stuffed with playful character actors and carpeted with wall-to-wall tunes, the film makes for easy viewing and easier listening.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Fortunately, Curtis isn't completely tone-deaf, and he does manage to capture the mood, and certainly the sound, of the era. The best parts of Pirate Radio take place in the movie's margins, in the vignettes and asides that don't necessarily have much to do with the plot.

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

Pirate Radio, the new rock-saturated comedy that proves life really is better when it's set to a '60s soundtrack, is, to borrow from the Stones, "a gas! gas! gas!"

NPR Ella Taylor

What comes through is the freshness and innocence of a generation's passion for the infant rock 'n' roll.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Pirate Radio is, in the end, about as rock-revolutionary as a tea break. But the choppy production floats on a great soundtrack (the real pirates are the Rolling Stones) and is buoyed by an inviting cast.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams

It's a calculated crowd-pleaser that skims over the surface of the era like a cruise-ship production of "American Graffiti."

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Writer-director Richard Curtis (“Love Actually’’) has made a party, not a movie, and if the party goes on much too long, at least the guests are great company and the host’s taste in music is impeccable.

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

There's an overly episodic feel to it all, as Curtis and company seem happy merely to float along from gag to gag.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The boat nearly sinks from character overload, and Curtis brakes when you most want him to gun it. But there’s no denying the comic energy of the cast.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Tries to capture that moment -- complete with air guitar-playing deejays -- and unapologetically rides a wave of nostalgia, but ultimately sinks due to a bloated, watery script.

Time Out New York Joshua Rothkopf

Giggles, not belly laughs, come frequently, and it’ll help if viewers love U.K. comics.

Empire Ian Nathan

A mix-tape of successes and failures, perhaps too light for its subject, but a silly, easy watch.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

The real pirate radio ships, whose days ended in 1967, wound up being towed away for salvage but the film avoids that fate -- like the best rock songs -- with a rousing finish and a pleasing climax.

Variety Derek Elley

Picture generally stays afloat on the strength of its characters but sometimes threatens to sink under its overlong running time and vignettish structure.

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

Seven months after its theatrical release in the U.K., and two months after its DVD debut there, Pirate Radio washes ashore with most of its better bits excised.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Awash in nostalgia and amped-up male camaraderie, Richard Curtis' Pirate Radio takes a great story - the hugely popular offshore radio stations that illegally broadcast pop and rock in 1960s Britain - and turns it into an aggressively irritating floating frat-party romp.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

A hodgepodge of half-baked characters and story ideas, stoked by a frantic climax and a blue-chip playlist of 1966 rock classics.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Richard Curtis, the writer of "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "Love, Actually," goes off-shore and out of his depth with Pirate Radio .

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

An even bigger issue: things start sinking by the opening minutes.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Sam Adams

Do you like montages, but grow bored with the tedious plot bits in between? Then Pirate Radio is the movie for you.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Despite a title change from "The Boat That Rocked" to Pirate Radio, this British import exudes about as much outlaw swagger as Tom DeLay in a dance competition.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Witless, tasteless, toothless, pointless, garish, repetitive, obvious, and painfully dull, Pirate Radio is that exceedingly rare film that never, but never puts a foot right.