Celebrate Elton John’s Birthday By Watching ‘Rocketman,’ A Music Biopic That’s As Interesting As Its Subject

No longer too young to be singing the blues, pop-rock legend Elton John turns 73 today. And what better way to celebrate Elton John’s birthday than by watching the highly enjoyable, appropriately outlandish 2019 musical movie about his life, Rocketman?

Directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Lee Hall, Rocketman is not your typical musician biopic. No, it’s so much weirder (and therefore better) than that. Given that John is the kind of mega pop star who’s rarely seen without a flamboyant outfit and his signature bejeweled red-tinted glasses, it’s hard to imagine a movie about his life that didn’t embrace that same fun-loving, colorful attitude. Thankfully, Rocketman does just that.

Starring Taron Egerton, Rocketman opens with Elton at the height of his career—and at the height of his drug and alcohol addiction. Dressed in an extremely lavish and sparkly devil costume, he begins to recount his life, starting as a boy with distant parents and a passion for music. As a young musician in 1967, Elton meets a lyricist named Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell in the film), who became a lifelong friend and collaborator. Nearly every famous Elton John song has lyrics written by Taupin, with the music by John—the two have worked together on over 30 albums. In fact, John and Taupin even wrote a new song together for Rocketman: “I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” which won the Oscar for Best Original Song last month. It was the first Oscar for John in 25 years, since “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” the first-ever Oscar for Taupin, and the first time the two songwriters had won an award together for any of their many famed collaborations.

The above plot description may sound like the kind of rise-to-fame formula that is overdone we now have (excellent) parody movies like Walk Hard mocking it, but I assure you, it’s not. Unlike the Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, before it, Rocketman is a full-blown musical, complete with choreographed dance numbers, over-the-top bedazzled costumes, and fantasy sequences that find Egerton literally “rocketing” through the air. But no matter how out there the film gets, it’s always grounded by the emotional core: the friendship between John and Taupin. Both Egerton and Bell are simply phenomenal in their portrayal of these two close friends and collaborators who clearly meant so much to each other over the years. I’ll never listen to “Your Song” in the same way again.

You can buy a digital copy of Rocketman on platforms like Amazon, iTunes, YouTube and more for $19.99. You can not currently rent Rocketman, likely because though Rocketman is not yet available to rent, it is available to Epix channel subscribers. And the good news for those who don’t want to pay an extra $5.99 a month is that you can sign up for the 7-day-free trial to get your Rocketman fix today. Or if you’re a Spectrum TV customer, Epix is currently free! Cool!

I highly recommend it. And when you’re done, keep the party going by watching John perform “Pinball Wizard” in the 1975 film Tommy, an iconic performance that will assure you that yes, Rocketman perfectly captured the spirit of this colorful, over-the-top legend.

Where to watch Rocketman