OVP: Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Film: Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Stars: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander, Mike Myers
Director: Bryan Singer
Oscar History: 5 nominations/4 wins (Best Picture, Actor-Rami Malek*, Film Editing*, Sound Editing*, Sound Mixing*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

Yesterday I had to eat a bit of humble pie when I caught A Private War, a movie I liked way more than I would have ever guessed heading into the film, and one would hope that I'd be eating the same pie today with Bohemian Rhapsody, the major hit of the fall that happens to be in the genre I most detest (musical biopics).  After all, I don't go to the movies to hate them-I want them all to be good, but must acknowledge when they're bad.  And while I was wrong with the social issues film, the musical biopic I was dead-right, as Bohemian Rhapsody is a mess.  Filled with cliches that could have been plucked out of virtually any other film of this nature, bizarrely directed, and consistently homophobic, the movie shows the life of one of rock's singular legends, Freddie Mercury, as hopelessly generic and devoid of any personality.  That this is the sort of film that the HFPA cites as a "Best Picture nominee" sort of negates the goodwill they accrued when they tried to highlight Pike's under-seen performance.

(Real Life Doesn't Have a Spoiler Alert) The film, for those who haven't viewed any of the commercials and aren't capable of inferring based on the title, is the story of Queen, and in particular their flamboyant lead singer Freddie Mercury (Malek).  The movie shows how Mercury, plucked out of obscurity but with huge dreams of being a major star, takes over the music industry in a major way, and alongside his bandmates, creates hits as iconic as "Killer Queen," "We are the Champions," and the title song of "Bohemian Rhapsody."  Queen is perhaps the greatest rock band of all-time, and there are moments that would be impossible to deny as fun in a movie, even one as hackneyed as the picture cobbled together by Singer (and all of the directors who had to cover for him during this troubled shoot), chief among them the great scene where they create "Bohemian Rhapsody" (you have to love Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor singing "Galileo" over and over again).  But too frequently the film seems intent on showing Mercury as a prima donna, a talent not of his own vision, but simply a freak-of-nature voice that was driven to superstardom because he stood on the backs of his fellow bandmates.

This might, admittedly, be true.  Mercury's bandmates, particularly Taylor and guitarist Brian May, were consultants on the film, and may have poor memories of what it was like in Mercury's shadow, particularly if they did indeed write many of the songs that made Mercury an icon.  But it feels in bad taste to do this when Mercury isn't here to defend himself, and indeed, he comes across in this film as a deluded, easily-manipulated diva who could charm a crowd but had no sense of self.  Malek leans in heavily into this depiction of Mercury, and we rarely get any insight into Mercury's inner-demons, with Malek trying (but failing) to use his expressive eyes to get across feelings & struggles that the script wants to ignore.  The film has been resoundingly criticized for its depiction of Mercury's sexuality and his later death from AIDS, and it's hard not to agree with this assessment of the film.  The movie treats basically every homosexual save the chaste (he won't sleep with Freddie) Jim Hutton (played by Aaron McCusker) as a leper against Freddie, dragging him down into hell and causing all of his troubles.  Compared to Hutton, but especially Lucy Boynton's Mary Austin, who is frequently called the "love of Freddie's life," even though he's gay, it's difficult to remember that this film was made by a gay man, so shy is it to say literally anything positive about Freddie's sexuality.  Malek doesn't ground Freddie enough to make us connect with this critical part of his life, and the film is too preoccupied with indicting Mercury's behavior compared to the one-dimensional portrayals of the other members of Queen, for there to be a saving grace here other than the music.

But this is where I feel musical biopics get laziest-in the way that they try to coast on our memories of truly great songs to gloss over that they don't have anything new to say.  Queen's songs sound wonderful coming out of a surround sound speaker system, but you can do that by picking up a Greatest Hits album or rewatching Mercury's electric performance during Live Aid on your couch (the film smartly avoids editing much out of this performance, and it's probably why the movie has done so well as it's the only part of the film that comes close to capturing why the band is so beloved).  Considering that this will surely lead to copycats (not only next year's Elton John biopic, but with this kind of money everyone from Donna Summer to The Carpenters feels ripe for a cash grab), I truly hope future films understand that you can't just rely on a hits track to sell a movie, and you need to find something unique to say about the artist at the center.  If you're incapable of doing that even for someone as singular as Freddie Mercury, I don't know how to help you.