About ROCKETMAN

I finally got around to seeing the 2019 Elton John biopic, ROCKETMAN. Wow. It is a winner. Taron Egerton is terrific as Elton John and the whole movie works. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, I felt, was a mediocre movie hoisted up by the strong performance of Rami Malek as the late Freddie Mercury. Malek took home the Best Actor Oscar for his work. This is a much better rock star biopic that also has an outstanding performance by the actor in the lead role. I hope ROCKETMAN gets some Oscar nomination love on January 13th. It would be cool to see Taron Egerton as a Best Actor nominee. The story opens with international rock star Elton John, decked out in one of his flamboyant, glittery stage costumes with matching shoes, strutting into an AA group meeting with his ego-blazing.

He speaks. He does get around to speaking honestly and we flashback to his boyhood in England. The story is a musical biopic and the musical numbers -- offstage and onstage -- are Elton John songs. We see little Elton (born Reginald Dwight), belt out "The Bitch Is Back" with neighbors as chorus dancers. A few minutes later, there's a lovely sequence with the camera going from family member to family member as they sing "I Want Love" revealing the loneliness and emotional dissonance in that household. See what I mean? There will be numbers that Elton John performs onstage in concert. There are musicals numbers just like a classic Vincent Minnelli musical from MGM in the 1940s & 50s. Those numbers are blended in smoothly. Taron Egerton does his own singing and he sounds more like Elton John than Renée Zellweger sounds like Judy Garland in JUDY, another biopic with another fine lead role acting performance.

Another major difference between ROCKETMAN and BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY is that the Freddie Mercury biopic was rather timid in dealing with his being gay. It's mentioned, but that's about it. In ROCKETMAN, you see the young man struggling to let his outward experiences and attractions match his interior feelings. When a man does find him romantically attractive, it's visualized. We see them together, shirtless and kissing and embracing on a bed. This is a warts-and-all biopic -- and Elton John was an executive producer of it. Lonely and emotionally pushed away by his mother because of his sexual orientation, he says "Real love is hard to come by. So you find a way to cope without it."

"Enough of this bullshit. Who wants to go to a party at Mama Cass'?" That fabulous invite comes from festive Doug Weston, the man behind The Troubadour in West Hollywood. Newcomer Elton John is booked there and he's an instant success. It's 1970.

His talent takes his from being a shy, closeted young man to being a top rock star in America and England AND being a millionaire at age 25. When he emerged from the cocoon of "Reginald Dwight" and took flight as rock butterfly Elton John, he did become a commodity of sorts, defined by his stage image. He's now taken to drink, cocaine, sex, shopping and loud rock diva tantrums. We will watch the journey as he pulls himself back together.

There is one thread through the ROCKETMAN screenplay that I loved. Besides being the story of an outrageous gay and talented rock star, this film is also a valentine to all straight allies whose friendship with a gay person occupies a very dear place in their hearts. Young man Reggie, working to kick off his career, is put in touch by a manager with another young dude. He's Bernie Taupin. They will become a famous songwriting team in rock music. At their first meeting, in a diner, Reggie is attracted to Bernie, but he's shy about showing it and also cautious. Bernie may not be gay. Well...Bernie is not gay. However, he comes to love Elton and will proudly say so in a heartbeat. He gives Elton the kind of love and acceptance he couldn't quite get from his parents. Bernie is a good friend who never lets the extremities and trappings of stardom go to his head.

Starring opposite Taron Egerton as Elton John is the always impressive Jamie Bell as collaborator Bernie Taupin.

If you've seen current films and TV shows with British actors playing Americans, we get equal time in ROCKETMAN. Ron Howard's daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, plays Elton John's mother.

I'm definitely going to see ROCKETMAN again. I enjoyed it that much. It's well-acted, smartly written and creatively presented. For a weekend double feature at home, I suggest ROCKETMAN and the 2000 film, BILLY ELLIOTT. In that charmer of a movie, young Jamie Bell played Billy Elliott -- a working class boy who wants to take serious dance classes. Ballet lessons.

The movie was adapted into a London/Broadway musical with original music by Elton John and a book by Lee Hunt. Lee Hunt wrote the original BILLY ELLIOTT screenplay. He also wrote the ROCKETMAN screenplay.