The tagline to Rocketman pretty wells captures the movie: “A musical fantasy about … Elton John’s breakthrough years”. Emphasis on the musical fantasy. It’s not the standard showbiz biodrama like Ray or Walk the Line – it uses the form of a musical (characters bursting into song) to illustrate Elton John’s creative rise, his descent into substance abuse and his recovery.
Taron Egerton (and juvenile actors Matthew Illesley and Kit Connor) play Reggie Dwight, who must battle a pair of unsupportive parents and his pasty, pudgy, hirsute and bespectacled appearance – all while coping with being gay in an unwelcoming culture. What Reggie has going for him is that he is a musical genius. Paired with a song-writing partner, his brother-from-another-mother Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell), he explodes into popular culture as Elton John. Suddenly making kazillions, he buys a lot of booze and drugs, and that – as we know – doesn’t usually go well…
Of course, the best reason to see Rocketman is the Elton John songbook. The best numbers are the recreated composition of Your Song and Elton’s debut at the Troubadour Club with Crocodile Rock. The latter – a magical moment – is depicted as literally magical. Tiny Dancer is fine, but my favorite screen version is still the one on the tour bus in in Almost Famous.
Taron Egerton actually sang the songs himself and did well; most importantly, he captured Elton’s on-stage flamboyance. As I wrote about Elisabeth Moss in Her Smell and Elle Fanning in Teen Spirit, given that Rami Malek just won an Oscar for lip-syncing, we should bestow a Nobel upon Egerton.
[And when did it become okay for Bryce Dallas Howard to portray somebody’s middle-aged mom? I’ve barely gotten used to Ron Howard having an adult child.]
Elton John’s story is a good one, Taron Egerton’s performance is convincing and appealing and two hours filled with Elton John songs make Rocketman a fun diversion.