Hits all the right notes, Elton John in his early career years.

Rating: Null/10 (17 September 2019)

My wife and I watched this at home on BluRay from our local library. Not only are the picture and sound great, the disc also has a series of very interesting "extras."
I didn't pay too much attention to Reginald Dwight, aka Elton John, during his early years but have eventually become a fan of his. Some of the music I listen to is his live concert in Australia. But frankly I knew little of the man beyond a few glimpses on TV. This Biopic is done as a musical, which is appropriate, considering the subject, but also contains some whimsical, fantastic elements.
Taron Egerton is just so good as Elton John, doing all his own singing. Elton John is a producer and had an active role in making sure the story was true to how his life before about 1990 unfolded. However he avoided attending any recording sessions, he didn't want to be a distraction or have Egerton feel any pressure to sound like Elton. So what we get is what really happened during Elton John's approximate first 40 years.
The first half of the movie is mostly light and entertaining, the second half more dark and tragic, as we see Elton John spiral into a drug and alcohol use that could have killed him. In a relatively recent interview he said, "This is how bleak it was: I'd stay up, I'd smoke joints, I'd drink a bottle of Johnnie Walker and then I'd stay up for three days and then I'd go to sleep for a day and half, get up, and because I was so hungry, because I hadn't eaten anything, I'd binge and have like three bacon sandwiches, a pot of ice cream and then I'd throw it up, because I became bulimic and then go and do the whole thing all over again." But in 1990 he admitted to his addictions and a note at the end of the film states that he has been sober 28 years. I believe that now, in 2019, it is 29 years.
While a few scenes are hard to watch overall this is a highly interesting and entertaining account of Elton John's life, and Egerton is superb, what I will call a "Best Actor" quality of performance.