Rocketman

It's a little bit funny, but rock biopics fall into two categories. Those that should have been on TV and those that serve only to showcase their stars to Oscar nomination greatness (Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody, Angela Basset in What's Love Got To Do With It and Dennis Quaid in Great Balls of Fire). Not many are great films. The only one to cross that line might have been Walk The Line.
 
I had high hopes that this summer release would be an exception. While Elton John's rocket flight to fame is patent rock biopic material, the levitated piano playing shown in the trailer suggested a fantasy approach that would transcend linear biopic film making. It didn't.

Let me first note that Taron Egerton fills the electric boots perfectly, providing great energy and virtuoso vocals. Rocketman achieves a star-making performance and clearly puts this film in that first biopic bucket.
 
The rest of the movie is as much a mess as Elton's life in the seventies. Instead of one scene that lets us know his mother was cruel, we have several hit-you-over-the-head moments every time she appears. And the narrative framework, set in a rehab, is so remedial that it's almost insulting. Thank goodness for those songs. The music is showcased three ways: realistic, fantastical imaginings of energetic performances and corny broadway basic music videos. The first two work. I loved a scene early in the film that captures what it must have felt like to hear Elton in the seventies. It's a scene where Elton performs Crocodile Rock in L.A.'s famous Troubadour club the day after a Neil Young appearance.
 
But here's my other issue with the film. Elton didn't play that song at the Troubadour and Neil Young wasn't there either. I understand the story telling need to switch songs or show songs out of timeline sequence, but why add the incorrect Neil Young reference? Why did they add a specific scene that indicates his last name was inspired by John Lennon when it was inspired by London rocker Long John Baldry? Why title "The Border Song" on a test packet to Elton when Taupin and John would write it years later? Why include the songs "Daniel" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" in his first audition, when these are songs they'd write in 1972 and 1983? Why, with Elton as producer,would any of this happen. I don't understand why you'd add these details if they weren't true and it's one less reason you should get your hopes up before watching this film. I suggest you spend the two hours playing one of Elton's Greatest Hits album or two or three.
 
In a nutshell: I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how disappointed I was in everything but Egerton's performance.

Award potential: Julian Day should expect an Oscar nomination for Best Costume and Taron Egerton should be only every shortlist for months. Egerton is supported with strong performances by Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin and Richard Madden as lover and manager John Reid, but I don't expect these performances to be remembered next January.
 
The Ten Buck Review: Not worth ten bucks.