A musical biopic with all the highs and lows

Rating: 9/10 (3 June 2019)

I had heard going in that this movie was closer to a musical in some respects than a biopic with music - which is accurate. It would translate beautifully onto Broadway. That said, my ratings:
Acting: 10/10 - Taron Edgerton nails Elton John. I was a tween when Elton first hit the US, and was obsessed with his music from that point on, being a pianist. He absolutely dominated the 1970s, and Taron portrays the ups and down of his tortured soul while being the dominant musician of that period beautifully. Jamie Bell did an equally beautiful job with Bernie Taupin's character; he's everything I imagined he was, given how closely they worked together. I was glad to see at the end that their friendship survived this rollercoaster. The other characters did equally great jobs as well, though I would have liked to have seen how EJ's bandmates helped/hindered his ability to function throughout the 70s highs and lows. Richard Madden plays the manager/lover John Reid with an oily ice slick performance that was amazing.
Music: 9/10 - I had no problem with the music being out of sync with reality, but rather driving the narrative. Since I knew all of the songs, it didn't really matter to me if they got them in letter perfect order. I was very impressed with Taron's singing ability. I'm knocking just one point off for the hard rock songs - Taron tries, but doesn't quite make some of the harder rock songs ('Saturday Night', 'Bennie and the Jets') have quite the right feel to them.
Story: 7/10: I really liked the mechanism of starting and ending in rehab - to show the viewers what made EJ both drive himself and why he had vulnerabilities. However, I think they should have made the movie 15 minutes longer and shown some critical points missed in EJ's career (Paul Buckminster, Ryan White, his 'restarting' albums only with Bernie) as key points prior to rehab.
Overall: 9/10: I'm giving it a 9 because it comes close to that on points. However, the storyline needed some critical points I think they cut or compressed for time. I think diehard fans like me were hoping for some scenes that never showed.