Enjoyable, even if it’s mostly junk food masquerading as a nutritious meal. The movie equivalent of sugary cereal.
Serious notes:
- It’s hard to evaluate a biopic produced by the individual it portrays. What biases exist? Why does this person want to tell this story? Was this dramatic sequence invented to create a more compelling story? I asked these questions and many more throughout the 2 hour runtime.
- I think I would have preferred a two hour film about Elton John in the 90s. Stretching into film composition with The Lion King, his work with Eminem, etc, all more interesting than his (pretty typical) redemption story.
- Steve Jobs — the Fassbender movie — was flawed, but it proved that biopics don’t have to be as formulaic as this. I’ve heard a lot of nonsense about how genre-defying this is, and it’s just… not? Sure, it’s better than Bohemian, but that’s a low bar.
- Taron is spectacular, as usual.
- A few moments in this hit the feels, and got me where it counted, and that’s all that really matters.