'bohemian rhapsody,' and why even flawed biopics kind of rule

Hear new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, which breaks down the high and low points of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' movie A lot of movie critics didn’t love the new Queen biopic,

_Bohemian Rhapsody_, aside from Rami Malek‘s eerily accurate Freddie Mercury – just as many ’70s music critics never warmed to Queen. But it didn’t matter: _Bohemian Rhapsody_ had a huge

opening weekend, overcoming a rocky production process that included the studio’s replacement of the director, Bryan Singer, after he reportedly stopped showing up for work. (He said he

needed to take care of an elderly parent and that the studio refused to delay production.) On the new episode of our podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, Brittany Spanos, David Fear and Andy

Greene discuss the movie — and why even flawed, campy biopics can be essential viewing. To hear the episode, press play below or download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. The episode

explores some of the best and silliest moments of _Bohemian Rhapsody, _as well as its many factual lapses. We didn’t need to see a painstaking explanation of the stomps and claps of “We Will

Rock You,” and the movie’s scenes of decadence are weirdly tame (or not so weirdly, when you consider the PG-13 rating). On the other hand, the recreation of Mercury commanding a stadium

crowd at Live Aid is downright moving, even if the portrayal of the band breaking up for two years beforehand is entirely made up. Download and subscribe to _Rolling Stone Music Now_ on 

iTunes or Spotify, and tune in Fridays at 1 p.m. ET to hear the show broadcast live on Sirius XM’s Volume, channel 106.