No. No. No.
My review of Bohemian Rhapsody is up at Rogerebert.com.
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Well, this is disappointing. I was really looking forward to this movie.
In general, in this day and age, presenting AIDS like it’s a punishment for homosexuality and/or promiscuity is reprehensible.
The concert sections are good – Malek is excellent – but the rest …
It felt like a TV movie released the year after Mercury died.
There’s a cynicism at play here from the rest of the members of Queen – and it bums me out. They don’t want to “alienate” new potential fans? Just guessing – that’s what it feels like.
I love Queen so much and feel like nothing they do will “ruin” their legacy – his status as a queer icon is part of their legacy, and they should embrace the HELL out of it.
//his status as a queer icon is part of their legacy, and they should embrace the HELL out of it.//
Agree. Queen was honestly my introduction to what “queer” and “gay” meant beyond playground bullies using the words as insults. It was the beginning of normalization of different sexual orientations and gender identities in my life – up to that point, I didn’t know anyone who was openly gay in my sheltered Catholic school life. And the music just absolutely blew my mind. I learned to play Bohemian Rhapsody on the piano after Wayne’s World came out. I didn’t know rock music could BE like that!
They are just the best – no other band like them! I mean, “Killer Queen”?? What?
Their catalog is so DEEP, too. There’s so much there, beyond the stuff that’s always on the radio.
Damn. I was really hoping this one would be good.
Sounds like there’s nothing bohemian about this rhapsody.
In all seriousness, this is an excellent piece and a reminder of what a good writer you are. “The one star is for Malek’s performance” is as cutting as anything Ebert himself ever wrote about a bad movie but you didn’t stop there. It’s heartening to see people specifically pointing out the homophobia here, as depressing as its inclusion in the first place is. Gay sex is so rarely portrayed as a source of joy or connection or simply orgasmic fun onscreen. It’s all death or oppression, death or oppression. And I’ll note that portrayals of the ways straight people participated in the supposedly depressing seventies fuckfest get summed up by cutesy suburban key party jokes, a concept I find more horrifying than any bathhouse. I wish the director of Love & Mercy had been hired for this movie, with his interest in the craft of music and his tenderness towards the controversial aspects of his subjects characters.
How could they get Freddie so wrong? Why hide his light? It’s a pity they found the right actor for the role, but put him in the wrong movie.
// Gay sex is so rarely portrayed as a source of joy or connection or simply orgasmic fun onscreen. It’s all death or oppression, death or oppression. //
Yes!
Clearly, AIDS has colored how “we” view the excesses in the 60s and 70s – but if you want to explore what that era MEANT for gay men – then you need to explore how liberating it was. This film does the opposite – it doesn’t even SUGGEST the freedom Freddie might have found, and how into it he was. It’s all presented in this ominous light (when it’s presented at all – the film really is quite COY – and come on, you make a film about Queen and you’re COY about gay sex? shaking my HEAD.)
// I wish the director of Love & Mercy had been hired for this movie, with his interest in the craft of music and his tenderness towards the controversial aspects of his subjects characters. //
Freddie definitely deserves a similar treatment – and from someone who doesn’t JUDGE Freddie for not being domesticated, or interested in domesticity, or being untamed or whatever … It’s not just “heteronormative” this film – it’s “normative” in general: Promiscuity is not good for you, it’s better to settle down with one person, don’t go too far with sex, blah blah blah.
which, okay, fine, maybe? But this isn’t a sex-ed class for high school students. It’s a biopic about a man who was WILD. If you think that showing Freddie’s orgies somehow takes him off his pedestal … well, that’s homophobic.
It’s such a bummer. Queen’s over-involvement was catastrophic – they were really invested in this – I love Queen, but they should have taken a step back. Sacha Baron Cohen was originally playing Freddie and he backed out – and he was very vocal about how annoyed he was at Queen’s involvement and the direction they were pushing the film.
Your review was not only unfair but brutally MEAN. I am a college film professor and I read reviews for a living. I try to encourage my students to read film reviews. They don’t want to, as they think all reviewers “suck” (their words). After reading your review, regarding what you wrote, I have to agree. I’ve encouraged people to see the film despite your review and they have done so. They have ALL gotten back to me saying they loved the film and wondering WHY you said what you said. My confidence in the credibility and integrity of film critics has been greatly compromised this year due to the fact that so MANY critics loved, loved, loved ROMA (a film that was the very definition of a bad time at the movies), and then they completely dismissed and disparaged BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. However, in terms of your review, I get that you didn’t like the film…fine. But such a scathing and vicious review was completely unwarranted. Interestingly, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY has gone on to make hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide and has inspired BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY parties all over the country…with singalongs. It is still showing in theaters, five months after it’s release. The tragic life of Freddie Mercury has touched millions upon millions of people. The music of QUEEN is as popular today as it ever was. The Golden Globes awarded it with a Best Picture award and chose Rami Malek as Best Actor. The Oscars awarded it with four Oscars, including Best Actor, Rami Malek once again. Thankfully, your review had no effect whatsoever on the value and the popularity of this film. I just do not understand your vitriolic review.
thanks for the laugh Kathleen, I needed it today. oh man, your poor students.
I cannot get over the image of Professor Kathleen distributing rogerebert.com’s negative review of Bohemian Rhapsody (dir. three different people, 2018) to the [allstudents] email list and the McCord family facebook and demanding that they drop twenty bucks and report back immediately (six months after release) that Meanie O’Malley was wrong.
Having said that I was about to do the same thing last night to the Ebert so-called reviewer (garbage person) who only gave Paddington 2 three stars so I probably shouldn’t laugh.
I can’t get over that Ms. Professor McCord doesn’t know or (in case it was an auto-correct fail) care that the possessive of “it” doesn’t have an apostrophe!
Queen was my very first concert: 1978, Dallas Convention Center. Queen II, the album, opened me up to a kind of music I didn’t know existed and have loved ever since. I kind of stopped listening to them after News of the World, but I always loved and cherished Freddie and what he did for rock music. It took me this long to see this movie, but I finally did, and I was just as disappointed as I knew I’d be. Sure, it’s fine for all those people who *didn’t* know Queen until this film (and there are MANY—check out Queen video “reactors” on YouTube if you doubt me, because they are LEGION now), but for those of us who sought out every detail about this band and pored over every lyric and every note of every song, it ended up being just another decent impersonation of an iconic figure. Rami Malek is SO tiny, some of the onstage scenes were ludicrous-looking to me. One wonders what could’ve been if Sacha Baron Cohen had played him as originally planned…
And it’s exceedingly disingenuous of Malek to tell interviewers that yes, he sang in the film, along with the Freddie voice double. I know every breath Freddie took on record by heart, and that was definitely NOT Rami Malek or anybody else singing for 99% of the film—it was Freddie, straight from the recordings. I wish Rami had just explained that yes, he sang during filming for verisimilitude, but that no, of COURSE that’s not HIS VOICE.
Anyway, film critics have one job: to critique. Sheila critiques. I will laugh forever at this outrage, so thank you for that, Ms. College Film Professor! ❤️✌️
Queen is one of my favorite bands and I’m so envious you saw them!!
In re: Paddington 2 … uhm, yeah, that review. (smh)
Meanie O’Malley!! lol
Kathleen – here’s the deal.
I don’t write reviews trying to guess at what other people will think. As a film professor, you should know that. Maybe you don’t read a lot of criticism? If so, you should really start!
If you’re not familiar with my work, that’s cool. But being “mean” is not really my thing. I felt in this case it was warranted.
As a critic, my job is to tell you what I thought. Not what I think you thought, not that it will be “fun for the whole family” – that’s not my style. I tell you what I thought, pass the thing in, and move onto the next review.
I’ve reviewed many things I love, and I love championing films I think deserve it.
I don’t care about box office. I’m not trying to “align” how I feel with consensus thinking. I never have done that – never will.
// Thankfully, your review had no effect whatsoever on the value and the popularity of this film. //
Lol.
Again, you seem to misunderstand the purpose of film criticism – I have no interest in influencing box office – or participating in film in that way at all. The only time I really care about such things is with smaller films – like THE RIDER – films I want to signal boost, since the theatrical run was so short and it wasn’t really on people’s radar. It was in my Top 10 last year and I wanted to make sure people didn’t miss it!
I literally have no interest in what is “popular” and what is not.
The majority of my favorite actors/directors never won Oscars. Oscars don’t equal worth – you would know how I feel about this if you were at all familiar with my work. The Oscars get things wrong all the time. It’s nice for things to be celebrated, but the statue itself does not equal WORTH. What is “popular” is often forgotten by tomorrow.
I think you need to read more film criticism. There’s a diversity of opinion out there and that’s actually the fun of it. I fear for your students if they are not aware that – above all else – they need to make up their OWN minds about things.
Wow. I’m getting caught up after having not been here in a few days. Clearly I missed a lot of excitement. Somehow I doubt that Kathleen is planning to come back to read responses to her comment – I don’t know, she just strikes me as the type who can’t handle people disagreeing with her, which, as Jessie said, her poor students – but the irony here is that one of the reasons I love and trust Sheila’s reviews is because she clearly loves movies and is knowledgeable about them as an art form. I learn so much from reading here.
Thank you Natalie!!
And I must reiterate – my opinion on Bohemian Rhapsody is just that. My opinion. I have good friends who loved it. I don’t think they’re idiots and don’t spend my days telling them why they’re wrong.
I guess I’m comfortable with different opinions. I can’t imagine even being able to operate in a world where that wasn’t the case.