A formulaic but tender, celebratory, and engaging spectacle

Rating: 7/10 (4 November 2018)

Bohemian Rhapsody begins as a scattered mess but continuously settles into its footing until it reaches a third act of transcendent beauty. The script falls victim to the many musician biopic cliches that the world assumed died with the Dewey Cox Story, but sure enough, the father-son dynamics and endless stream of greatest hits origin stories are on fully display here. Of course the film does not live up to the expectations of its long gestation period, nor is it as revolutionary as a film about one of the greatest bands and singers of all time should be. But it treats its subject with great care, and when the movie finally corrects its course, it becomes an unmissable musical and cinematic experience.
The cinematography, editing, and costumes are all absolutely incredible, and of course, Rami Malek deserves an Oscar for his pitch perfect transformation into the legendary Freddie Mercury. This is a classic example of a film that succeeds in every manner imaginable except for its script (and also Mike Meyers' character and performance... yikes). Overall, Queen fans will be ecstatic, and the average moviegoer won't want to miss it, but cinephiles will leave the theater imagining the masterpiece that the film could have been had Peter Morgan remained its screenwriter.
An important final note: the film does NOT gloss over Freddie's sexuality and wild lifestyle. It is NOT a PG-13 washed down disappointment as some have called it. I have been scratching my head at these critiques all day.