Episode 35: Bohemian Rhapsody! Happy Holidays, It’s Our Most Requested Movie!

2024-12-24

People wanted this, so we did it, and one of us is WAY happier about it than the other. Is Bohemian Rhapsody an efficient, joyful look at the life and genius of Freddie Mercury and his fellow geniuses in Queen, or is it a Wikipedia-skimming, nightmarishly-edited, lie-filled romp through fan-service hell? Things we can agree on: Adam Lambert is unconvincing as a truck driver, Bob Geldof’s fame is mystifying, and Mike Myers should not have been allowed in this movie. Things we can’t agree on: the offensiveness of the false teeth worn by our fil...

People wanted this, so we did it, and one of us is WAY happier about it than the other. Is Bohemian Rhapsody an efficient, joyful look at the life and genius of Freddie Mercury and his fellow geniuses in Queen, or is it a Wikipedia-skimming, nightmarishly-edited, lie-filled romp through fan-service hell? Things we can agree on: Adam Lambert is unconvincing as a truck driver, Bob Geldof’s fame is mystifying, and Mike Myers should not have been allowed in this movie. Things we can’t agree on: the offensiveness of the false teeth worn by our film’s star, Rami Malek, whether Freddie Mercury’s innate decency and Queen’s glorious gifts as a rock outfit are used as a shield against criticism of this film’s flaws, and whether this movie has any value given the liberties it takes with anything resembling reality.

Other questions, resolved and unresolved: Is Freddie Mercury actually Santa Claus, given that his time-bending ability to visit every Jim Hutton in London on the morning of Life Aid and establish a healthy relationship is similar to Santa’s capacity for visiting a billion households in one night? Could you buy a wild animal at Biba? Which member of the cast of Game of Thrones is a more convincingly crappy John Reid?

Bohemian Rhapsody was “directed” by Bryan Singer and actually directed by Dexter Fletcher, and stars Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, Lucy Boynton as Mary Austin, Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, Joseph Mazzello as John Deacon, Aidan Gillen as John Reid, Allan Leech as Paul Prenter, and Tom Hollander as Jim Beach.

Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.

Sources include:

Somebody to Love

Matt Richards

Is This the Real life?: The Untold Story of Queen

Mark Blake

Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock

Phil Sutcliffe

https://slate.com/culture/2018/10/bohemian-rhapsody-fact-fiction-freddie-mercury-movie-accuracy.html

https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/what-happened-to-paul-prenter-the-bohemian-rhapsody-villain-had-a-more-complex-relationship-with-the-band-irl-13040678

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/movies/rami-malek-bohemian-rhapsody.html

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/11/freddie-mercury-true-story-relationships-mary-austin-jim-hutton?srsltid=AfmBOooRbDLOBmoF94EEP8M_dwYsmu-ipnFDN_UUrB4J3Nu-admbHKgw

https://www.mirror.co.uk/film/bohemian-rhapsody-brian-wanted-different-13730594

https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/bohemian-rhapsody-bad-editing-video-essay-watch-1202051342/

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/10/bryan-singer-bohemian-rhapsody-behavior-report?srsltid=AfmBOorS9ytUWYPmvYNkl4hi6FCVNJtvTasBfzL9FIIvapan8hT9MSiB

Where the Live Aid Money Went:

https://www.spin.com/2015/07/live-aid-the-terrible-truth-ethiopia-bob-geldof-feature/

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