I can think of two things wrong with "Pirate Radio."

One is the generic title, a switch from the original name, "The Boat That Rocked." The other is that, while the events depicted take place in the British rock scene of 1966 and 1967, one key scene is set to The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" -- which was released in 1971.

Other than those picayune issues, "Pirate Radio" is a bloody perfect comedy, a rollicking rock 'n' roll farce brimming with raunchy humor and characters who will charm your socks off.

The true backstory, presented in a quick over-the-credits montage, is that Britain's only licensed radio network, the BBC, played very little recorded music in 1966 -- and no rock music, in an era when rock 'n' roll was one of Britain's leading exports. Think The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, etc.

With that as prologue, writer-director Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill," "Love Actually") creates a fictional unlicensed station, Radio Rock, broadcasting to millions of British fans 24/7 from a rickety boat anchored in the North Sea. The station's rather dotty owner, Quentin (Bill Nighy, best known as the squid-faced Davy Jones in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films), welcomes aboard his godson, Carl (Tom Sturridge), recently expelled from school. "So your mum sent you here in the hope that a little bracing sea air would sort you out?... Spectactular mistake," Quentin muses.

Carl soon becomes the mascot to Quentin's ragtag bunch of DJs: The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a scruffy American; the smooth-talking Big Dave (Nick Frost, from "Shaun of the Dead"); the silent but sexy Midnight Mark (Tom Wisdom); the sweetly innocent Simon (Chris O'Dowd); the clueless comic Angus ("Flight of the Conchords' " Rhys Darby); the appropriately named Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke); and the reclusive Smooth Bob (Ralph Jones). A later arrival, Quentin's strutting former star DJ, Gavin Cavanagh (Rhys Ifans), stirs up professional tension with The Count -- and sexual tension during the biweekly visits of the crew's girlfriends.

Meanwhile, an officious cabinet minister, Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh), has vowed to shut down Radio Rock and the other pirate stations. Dormandy and his chief staffer, the unfortunately named Twatt (Jack Davenport, Keira Knightley's jilted fiancé in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films), look for legal ways to shut down the radio stations -- in spite of their widespread popularity.

Curtis celebrates the free spirit of the mid-'60s, happily fulfilling the three requirements of the era -- sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll -- though the first two arrive with typical British discretion and wit, while the third fills the kicky soundtrack. The movie moves episodically and flits lightly around the delightful characters, turning the camera into a very mobile fly on the wall. (The movie has been trimmed by 20 minutes for the U.S. release, so the DVD's deleted scenes will be rich.)

The ensemble cast melds well, with Hoffman, Ifans, Darby and Katherine Parkinson (as the boat's mousy lesbian cook) making impressive turns. The standout is Nighy, a gangly Pied Piper in a Carnaby Street suit, merrily riding herd on his misfit music spinners -- the walking symbol of the sharp wit and off-the-wall humor that keep "Pirate Radio" afloat.

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