Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

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

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

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

ReelViews by 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.

Miami Herald by Connie Ogle

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

San Francisco Chronicle by 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 by Claudia Puig

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

Washington Post by 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 by Kyle Smith

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

Wall Street Journal by 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.

Los Angeles Times by 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!"

Entertainment Weekly by 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 by Joe Williams

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

Empire

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

Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf

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

The Hollywood Reporter by 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.

Village Voice

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.

Variety by 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.

Austin Chronicle by 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.