604: Bohemian Rhapsody

[00:00:00] Hello everybody, welcome back to the Film Buds Podcast. This is episode number 604, and my name is Henry. This time around, I'm going to be tackling Bohemian Rhapsody from 2018. It is directed by Bryan Singer, stars Remy Malek, Lucy Boynton, Guillaume Lea, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Mike Myers. And the synopsis is, with his impeccable vocal abilities,

[00:00:29] Freddie Mercury and his rock band Queen achieve superstardom. However, amidst his skyrocketing success, he grapples with his ego, sexuality, and a fatal illness. I decided to tackle this one because Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic, is out right now, and it's produced by the same people who did Bohemian Rhapsody, so I figured in the meantime, I would tackle this one. Both this film

[00:00:54] and Michael currently have been big successes. This one made, I think, around a billion dollars, and I didn't see it in theaters. That might have helped a little bit, getting to hear that music, Queen music, which I've always loved Queen ever since maybe high school. Bohemian Rhapsody, this song is one of my favorite songs of all time, and all in all, I just like music biopics. I know that there are a lot of fans of this film, and I, you know, I get it to a certain degree,

[00:01:22] but I think that this film is one that I've seen a couple of times. It's one that you can kind of have on in the background. It's watchable. It's got some cool moments. It's got good music, obviously, but in terms of having anything really real to say, anything of any emotional resonance, I don't think that this film has any of that. It really just is a by-the-book, by-the-beats

[00:01:47] playlist of Freddie Mercury's life. And while I don't think that his sexuality should be kind of everything about this movie, they really don't touch on it at all. And not only that, I think, at least, call me crazy, you know, comment if you have a way to do that. I think that they treat his homosexuality very poorly, and it feels quite phobic. You know, there's the scene, I think it's at a party where his bandmates say, hey, you know, come back when you like yourself more. And

[00:02:17] there's a lot of stuff like that where it seems like we're supposed to be siding with everybody else. Yeah, there might have been times where he questioned himself. We all do at one point or another. But, you know, being a superstar in the 70s, 80s, and being gay, that would have been an incredibly insane experience. And the script, the direction just seems to be, okay, he had a boyfriend every now and again, let's get back to the music. And if you look at something like Elvis, the Austin

[00:02:46] Butler film, which I think is probably the best of the ones that have come out over the last decade or so, and A Complete Unknown 2, those get into the nitty-gritty of their lives. Not necessarily just their sexuality, but the good and the bad. And it feels much more like you're getting a true representation of this person. And Michael, I haven't seen it, but from what I understand,

[00:03:10] the reviews I've read, considering Michael Jackson has some very controversial things in his life, the film doesn't seem to touch on any of that either. It pretty much just is a crowd pleaser. And a lot of people are going to watch films like this, and they're just going to think, okay, that's his life. And since it's a wide-release film, we haven't really had a Michael Jackson biopic like this before, that's what people are going to cling to when thinking of Michael Jackson.

[00:03:38] Also, and then I'll get to some things I like. I'm glad that after this one came out, we had Rocketman come out around the same time, and then the other ones I've discussed. I think we're at the point where we need to have the actor sing the actual songs. Yeah, it's cool to hear that music, but you can turn on the radio, turn on Spotify, and hear that exact thing. I want to hear that lead actor deliver something very distinctive. I don't care if it's perfect. So in this, that's another element that takes me out of it. I'm never

[00:04:08] truly believing I'm watching a Freddie Mercury on screen. Now, I do think Remy Malek, who I like him a lot. I'm a big Mr. Robot fan, and I've watched a good bit of his work. He's very good at it. Otherwise, I think he captures that energy, that amazing energy that Freddie had on stage. However, the buck teeth on him are terrible. Yes, Freddie had some kind of protruding front teeth,

[00:04:35] but they were nowhere near this goofy looking. Like, anytime they shine light on his face in a certain way, it looks so unrealistic. It's so obvious that he's wearing fake teeth. I think they really could have dialed that down, and honestly, maybe just remove it totally. Like, I think if he just had his normal teeth, people would not really be questioning him. Everything with Mike Myers is fun. I love him as an actor, and otherwise, performances are all right. They're decent enough.

[00:05:05] One of the only scenes that really stuck out to me as something that felt inspired, and felt like it was kind of talking back to me, in a sense, was, and only lasts maybe 30 seconds, but when they're coming up with the idea for, we will rock you, Freddie is saying, I want something that the audience can dance along with. And it's that simple stomp clap. And that's, you know, one of the most iconic beats

[00:05:30] probably ever. Anyone can do it. It's so catchy. You immediately know what it is. I just wish there had been much more of that in terms of the songwriting creation process. The Live Aid concert at the end is great, and I think there's some humor in the creation of Bohemian Rhapsody, the song in those sequences, them trying to get these ridiculous lines okayed with the studio. And because, you know,

[00:05:55] you can imagine that song, it is pretty insane that it came out the way that it did, and the amount of hurdles that they probably had to go through in reality is something to think about. Three out of five.