Bohemian Rhapsody
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: November 2, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 50 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
23
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 31, 2018
In strict filmmaking terms, Bohemian Rhapsody is a bit of a mess. Some of its scenes connect awkwardly, and it hits every beat of disaster and triumph squarely, like a gong. Yet if it has many of the problems we associate with “bad” movies, it has more ragged energy than so many good ones, largely because of Rami Malek’s performance as Mercury, all glitter and muscle and nerve endings. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 31, 2018
The rousing life that Malek brings to this extraordinary recreation deserves all the cheers it gets. Screw the film’s flaws — you don’t want to miss his performance. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelOct 30, 2018
If it doesn’t have the family drama of “Walk the Line” or the psychodrama of “The Doors,” Bohemian Rhapsody does deliver what any music biopic must: convincing characters and some kick-butt simulated concert experiences. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramOct 29, 2018
Definitely not Killer Queen, but thanks to a blinding turn from Malek, fans of the band will get their kicks. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyOct 23, 2018
The final hurrah for Mercury’s genius, this huge, hubristic spectacle lets you grant his troubled film a pass: at least it keeps on fighting to the end. Read full review
60
Time OutDave CalhounOct 23, 2018
A lively, uncomplicated jukebox movie. Bohemian Rhapsody is a feature-length earworm that leaves “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “We Are the Champions,” “Another One Bites the Dust” and the rest of them wriggling in your cochlea and helping to drown out any inner whisper suggesting that you’ve just had the wool pulled over your eyes by these masters of rock theatrics. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsOct 23, 2018
Like Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody is three parts good but not terribly exciting, and one part absolute joyful, fabulous entertainment that makes you forget everything else around it. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerOct 23, 2018
In the best scenes, the filmmakers make the case that Queen’s musical decisions grew out of the musicians’ restless inability to fit in with either pop conventional wisdom or, sometimes, each other. The rest of the movie fits in all too well. Read full review
50
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Nov 1, 2018
There are some individual moments and elements to like here, but taken as a whole, Bohemian Rhapsody is mostly a flatline with occasional blips of life here and there—and not nearly enough to bring the whole body back from the dead. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerOct 31, 2018
It's a fascinating story told by the rote conventions of the musical biopic. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 31, 2018
All in all, the movie’s a muddled and overlong experience, one that every so often drifts into dull, unintentional camp. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldOct 31, 2018
Except for its songs, Bohemian Rhapsody too quickly becomes forgettable; something the real-life man at its center, who died of AIDS-related illness in 1991 at the age of 45, never was. Watch the real footage; you’ll see. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleOct 30, 2018
The only time Bohemian Rhapsody works is when it finally retreats from not just the standard biopic narrative but from storytelling altogether. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneOct 29, 2018
The later sections of the story, dealing with Mercury’s AIDS diagnosis, are carefully handled, but most of the film is stuffed with lumps of cheesy rock-speak (“We’re just not thinking big enough”; “I won’t compromise my vision”), and gives off the delicious aroma of parody. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittOct 23, 2018
As it turns out, “Bohemian Rhapsody” the song is a sonic masterpiece and Bohemian Rhapsody the movie is just a conventional rock flick, one all too ordinary for a man and a band that exemplified the extraordinary. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanOct 23, 2018
The movie, despite its electrifying subject, is a conventional, middle-of-the-road, cut-and-dried, play-it-safe, rather fuddy-duddy old-school biopic, a movie that skitters through events instead of sinking into them. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineRichard Scott LarsonOct 23, 2018
This charitable act of resuscitation for the benefit of Mercury’s admirers is something that the film as a whole ultimately fails to accomplish, as Bohemian Rhapsody mistakenly believes that simply trudging through a workmanlike overview of the Queen frontman’s life will allow it to arrive at something approaching intimacy. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangOct 30, 2018
The irony is that Bohemian Rhapsody, a song that triumphantly bucked convention, should now serve as the title of a movie that embraces every cliché in the days-of-our-lives biopic handbook. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansOct 27, 2018
Fans of the band might enjoy watching the movie cycle through their hits (and there are many), but those, like me, hoping for a more robust appraisal of the late Freddie Mercury may find themselves disappointed. Read full review
40
SlateJeffrey BloomerOct 25, 2018
If Bohemian Rhapsody’s superficial gloss on the band’s rise sometimes feels like a useful feature, the hackneyed way it treats Mercury’s life and fall is close to fatal. And after you leave the theater, you may find that first part isn’t such an asset after all. Read full review
40
UproxxMike RyanOct 23, 2018
Look, I get it, scripted films are not documentaries. And, sometimes, creative license has to be used to move a story forward. But I’ve never seen a film distort its facts in such a punitive way. It’s like the movie wants to punish Freddie Mercury. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushMatt SingerOct 23, 2018
Although Malek looks the part, and has Freddie’s dance moves down, his performance is all stiff British accent and overbite (Mercury was born with four extra teeth). Singer never gets beyond the superficial to tell us anything profound or meaningful about Queen or Freddie Mercury or the perils of rock stardom. Read full review
40
The GuardianSteve RoseOct 23, 2018
Bohemian Rhapsody honours Mercury the showman but never really gets to Mercury the person. Read full review
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