Richard Curtis has his ‘Boat’ sunk

While his wife Emma Freud was one of the lucky women to be picked to attend last night's 'First Wives Club' dinner in Downing Street, Richard Curtis must have been hiding behind the sofa at home, so bad are the reviews for his new film, The Boat that Rocked.

Curtis, the man who could do not wrong when it came to knocking out enjoyable British romantic comedies - he wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually among others - has finally been holed below the waterline.

The Boat that Rocked is a homage to the days of the pirate radio DJs, long before the stuffy BBC launched Radio One. "Be sure to pack a large inflatable lifejacket," writes the Times critic, James Christopher, "because Richard Curtis's dismal comedy about a pirate radio station floating around the North Sea is destined to sink long before the summer."

As always, actor Bill Nighy comes out of it, if not exactly smelling of roses, than at least with his reputation for deadpoan humour intact. Kenneth Branagh too, hamming it up as the government minister trying to stop the rot, gets some kind words for his performance.

"Elsewhere," as Nigel Andrews of the Financial Times puts it, "it is all hands on deck long before this ship runs out of steam, cruising on empty engines towards its Titanic-impersonating climax."

Time Out magazine suggests an alternative title: 'The Ship That Sank'. ·