Pirate Radio

Although Richard Curtis’ Pirate Radio is thoroughly bottom-of-the-barrel, SN&R’s beloved popcorn icon received a stay of execution—the film is so aggressively bad, it’s borderline admirable. Loosely if it all based on the real-life 1960’s British pirate-radio stations that subverted the BBC by broadcasting round-the-clock rock from international waters, Pirate Radio comes on like the worst 1960s movie ever made. At no point do five minutes pass between cheeky montages of British archetypes irresistibly breaking into dance over a British Invasion nugget. Curtis is so devoted to an aesthetic of nonsensical pop-song montages and cutesy ensemble tics, the film is almost 15 minutes old before it settles down for a meaningful scene of dialogue between two characters. Likable actors keep this ship afloat for about 20 minutes, but Curtis can’t steer it out of port.