The Boat That Rocked, kind of.

On Tuesday night i was lucky enough to attend a preview screening of the new Richard Curtis film The Boat That Rocked. Stars Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead/Spaced/Hot Fuzz), Chris O'Dowd (IT Crowd) and relative new comer Jim Sturridge were in attendance. They briefly introduced the film, Frost and O'Dowd cracked a couple of jokes but they left pretty soon after.

The film dosen't open until April 1st, so i thought id write a quick review giving my thoughts on it before its released. Check it out below.

It’s England. It’s the sixties. Sideburns are cool, clothes are too brightly coloured and rock and roll is considered a taboo.

Richard Curtis’ second film is pretty much what you might expect from the guy who wrote Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral; a who’s who of British comedy talent with an American twist thrown in, although this time minus all the love-y stuff.

But behind the impressive cast and cool soundtrack The Boat That Rocked fails to be much more than a brief lesson in rock music’s journey to mainstream radio.

Set on a floating pirate radio station the movie centres around a crew of disc jockeys who provide around the clock rock relief for an uptight Britain. So uptight in fact that the government, lead by Kenneth Branagh, have nothing better to do but place all their efforts into pulling the plug on them.

And its here where the problems start to arise as that’s basically the whole plot.

Sure things happen in between: the return of a legendary DJ played by a Liam Gallagher-esque Rhys Ifans, a misinterpreted marriage, but the film takes its time to reach a conclusion that you’ve probably already predicted yourself half way through.

Clocking in at around 130 minutes, the movie does go on for too long. Although it boasts a talented ensemble cast, unfortunately none of them are given adequate time to shine. It feels like your always waiting for Rhys Darby or Bill Nighy to have their moment, but sadly it never quite arrives.

That’s not to say there’s nothing here to like. The character Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke) raised a few laughs, albeit being a little too similar to Baldrick from the Curtis penned Blackadder series. Pirates of the Caribbean star Jack Davenport brought the laughs, purely from his characters name: Mr Twatt, and Nick Frost does have his moments.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the only American DJ on board brings some cool to the ship, but feels severely under used, the same can be said for most of the cast really many of them never really finding their purpose.

But this could all be nit picking. With almost each scene scored with a cool song, it’ll take your mind off the negative aspects, temporarily.