Seen in a longer form in England as "The Boat That Rocked", this is the American cut of the film. It's a comedy-drama about a "pirate radio" boat off the coast of England in the 1960's; the BBC didn't play "rock" music, so some enterprising souls set up boats with transmitters to beam it in. The tone of the movie resembles "Animal House" - anti-authoritarian comedy, with lapses in taste - and I think this movie compares quite favorably with that predecessor. It's funny, it's wildly colorful.
And what makes it REALLY good is the actors and the way they pull you into these characters' worlds. Philip Seymore Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, and Bill Nighy here are each not only great, but absolute forces of nature. They inhabit their characters, and we enjoy living in their world. This is an underappreciated gem of a movie.
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