Bohemian Rhapsody’ Rebecca L

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dominant stage presence that we remember as Mercury —part Having such a good Jagger, part Brian Wilson and part Liberace. Forever in search of somebody to love, early in his career Mer- time, having a ball at RE B E C CA cury fell for Mary Austin (Lucy L. FORD Boynton), who remained his muse and soulmate even after Mercury, still on the down-low, took a high ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Rebecca L. Ford is counsel to Scharf dive into the ecstasies of pre- Banks Marmor LLC, and concentrates her practice on complex litigation, compliance, AIDS gaydom. board governance and specialized Sacha Baron Cohen was orig- With input from Queen’s surviving mates, employment issues. She is the former inally cast as Mercury but is ru- executive vice president for litigation and mored to have parted with the film as much about music as it is Mercury intellectual property at MGM. She can be production because of differences reached at [email protected]. with May and Taylor over how deeply the film would forage into ast spring, I donned a as it is about Freddie Mercury. and admired by Princess Diana at M e r c u r y ’s private life. sparkly disco dress and Born as Farrokh Bulsara into a the height of her influence. “Bohemian Rhapsody”is rated joined my college room- conservative Zoroastrian family Malek delivers a fine enough PG-13. In this family-friendly(ish) mates in New York for exiled from Zanzibar to London, impersonation of Mercury. Once version, sexual excess, regret and “Summer: The Donna Mercury lived with his doting the prosthetic teeth are in, all familial disapproval is treated the SummerL Musical.”We were ready mother, admiring sister and con- trace of Malek vanishes. (Mercury same as that of any other rock to dance the night away. But after trolling father, whom he defied by claimed his extraordinary vocal and roller (think Russell Brand in the house dimmed all the lights, spending nights hanging out at range could be attributed to four “Get Him to the Greek”), and we dissolved in disappointment clubs. extra incisors that pushed his there is plenty of excess, regret like cake in the rain as we sat It was in the alley of one such front teeth forward, creating ad- and disapproval to go around. through the painful pathos of the establishment that Mercury held ditional room in his mouth.) Mike Myers, whose 1992 p e r fo r m e r ’s life, punctuated by an impromptu audition with a stu- Malek’s doleful liquid eyes tele- “Way n e’s World”movie revived in- fragments of her famous hits. dent band whose lead singer graph the singer’s vulnerability, terest in the 1975 “Bohemian On the screen, “Bohemian abruptly quit. The students were isolation and his burden of re- Rhapsody”song, appears permed Rhapsody”is the opposite expe- May and Taylor. maining publicly closeted. and bearded in a small role as the r i e n c e . record executive who refused to It doesn’t really matter that this champion the extended-play single, musical depiction of the life of Mercury claimed his extraordinary vocal range predicting it would bite the dust. Queen frontman Freddie Mercury Instead, radio went gaga for Mer- (Rami Malek) isn’t a great movie. could be attributed to four extra incisors that cury’s soaring operatic harmonies. I t’s a great time. pushed his front teeth forward, creating The music’s dynamite-with-a- Queen bassist Brian May laser-beam earworms set off (Gwilym Lee), the guitar god and additional room in his mouth. waves of pleasantly wistful, ex- second-career astrophysicist who uberant nostalgia, even among still sports an Isaac Newton hair- “Bohemian Rhapsody”takes us Yet the script only lets him su- those who aren’t committed do and drummer Roger Taylor on the wild ride from that alley perficially tap the seductive emo- Queen fans as they enter the mul- (Ben Hardy) were deeply involved audition to Live Aid, the star-filled tive energy of the adulation-crav- tiplex. “Bohemian Rhapsody”hits as executive producers of the film, famine relief festival, where Queen ing performer. Malek’s Mercury is all the notes of a proper jukebox ensuring that “Bohemian Rhap- seized the prime spot and gave a a silhouetto of the man of swagger, musical. sody”is as much about the music legendary performance attended multioctave range and physically It will rock you.