I don’t know very much about the music group Queen, although I’ve certainly enjoyed their music over the years.  This movie depicts how Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) first joins Brian May (Gwilym Lee), Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) and John Deacon (Joe Mazzello) turning the band “Smile” into what eventually became “Queen.”  Despite some lapses in accuracy, which are well covered on the internet, mostly involving issues of time, and the odd omission of the band’s involvement with the movies Flash Gordon and Highlander, what comes across is a compelling story of disparate people bound together forever by the music they create.

Bryan Singer’s film is a cinematic smorgasbord of the 1970s and beyond, replete with split screens, song titles flying off the screen and other tricks of the trade, all designed to capture the era, its fads and fashions, and its drug-fueled excess.  The music is great; the sequence where the band goes to a farm to create and record the title song is absolutely marvelous.  All of the band members are given attention, although Freddie Mercury is the obvious star of the show.  And while the film obviously whitewashes much of the wildest behavior and sexual shenanigans, hedonistic spirit shines through as an anthem of the era.

This pop history lesson could have been (and perhaps should have been) a cable-TV miniseries, for it does seem to unnecessarily condense and even alter facts about the band — some of which are still in dispute.  But we must judge what is presented to us, and this movie is an exciting and mostly enjoyable exploration of what it was like to be in a small band that achieved worldwide fame.  Besides the creation of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the hilarious verbal jousting over “I’m in Love with My Car,” the musical highlight is the film’s recreation of the 1985 “Live-Aid” concert.  I don’t recall this being a monumental moment in rock history, but evidently it was, and Queen’s domination of the all-star concert cannot be overstated.

It is, at times, an odd experience.  Star Rami Malek never seems comfortable with the false teeth he has to wear as Mercury — but I’m told that Mercury himself never seemed comfortable with his overbite, either.  The dynamic within the band is often uneasy, but that seems very convincing and real.  And I love that the musicians all seem like really nice people, guys it would be nice to know, as opposed to their “manager,” Paul (Allen Leech), and the dumb record producer Ray Foster (Mike Myers, almost unrecognizable behind those sunglasses).  The film is not altogether accurate, and it probably should have been rated R to register greater truthfulness, but it is quite a ride, and it makes me appreciate Queen more than ever before.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  28 December 2018.