Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story

The main word that comes to mind when considering this film is "dodgy". This is a low-quality film biography of one of the most iconic performers of all time. The Gloved One deserved better.

Before getting into the meat of my thoughts on this biopic, I have to say that there are two things I found effective. First was the use of actual fan footage and interviews at certain points in the film, especially in the scenes depicting the first set of child molestation allegations. I feel that this contributed a certain authenticity that was *severely* lacking throughout the rest of the film. Second was the sequence depicting the courtship of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. I will not comment on whether I believe the marriage was a sham, but by many accounts, it was a relationship where care and affection existed between the two parties involved. That really came across in this film; Flex Anderson and Krista Rae had decent enough chemistry to pull it off. These successful points are enough to keep Man in the Mirror away from 1-star status.

That said...there was very little else here that worked. Very few of the actors looked like the people they were supposed to portray, most egregiously those playing Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Jackson, and Diana Ross. Also, the absence of Jackson's music was a huge loss. How can you effectively tell a story about him without his music?? I understand that they were unable to secure the rights to it with this being a low-budget, unauthorized production; it seems, though, that if you can't have the man's music in a film about him, you might as well pack it up and go home, because you're missing out on an extremely important part of his life story.

This film's characterization of Jackson bothered me a little, too. I won't argue that he was troubled and may have been a few fries short of a value meal, but here, he was portrayed as something close to mentally disabled. I don't believe that Jackson, known to have been a shrewd businessman, would have been quite as naive about how the adult world works as he was made out to be in this film.

Finally, the way this film was written was nothing short of disgraceful. Many lines or exchanges of dialogue were either extremely corny, like Michael and Janet's "Tinkerbell" exchange, or nonsensical, like the "Blanket of love" comments made by Michael. Also, the screenwriters don't exactly have a knack for subtlety. There was a lot of telegraphing of upcoming events ("What could possibly go wrong??" sorts of lines) and extremely overt hammering of themes and motifs in the film (if I'd heard the word "believe" one more time...). This is what ultimately hobbled the film as something that could be considered awesomely bad.

Perhaps when we are a few years, or even a decade or three, removed from Jackson's death, someone will be able to bring his story to life in a more deserving film. By that time, we might have a better perspective on his life, and someone will be able to present a truly thoughtful examination of who Michael Jackson really was and what he's meant to the world of entertainment. This very dodgy biopic was not that film.

This movie is like so many biopic TV movies I have seen: formulaic, exaggerating, poorly acted, and most importantly, happening too soon.

What I mean by that is the movie was filmed and, for that matter, aired before Michael Jackson's acquittal from his child molestation charges, which I think was one of the most significant periods of Jackson's life and career so far. It probably would have made a great ending to this docu-drama. However, this movie already bites off more than it can chew, cramming too many details in this overly ambitious project.

It's no doubt that Michael Jackson has led perhaps the most interesting life so far of any musician, let alone modern day pop star, to date, and his story would probably take six Behind The Music specials to tell accurately. This movie tried to tell too much in three hours, and needless to say, it failed.

Flex Alexander did what he could in playing Jackson, but he came off more like an SNL caricature by the likes of Tim Meadows and Amy Poehler. It would admittedly be pretty hard to find someone who accurately portrays Jackson without meeting with the King of Pop himself and studying his methods of madness. On a shoestring budget, though, one can only depend on what they see in the tabloids, and those do not necessarily give an accurate representation.

Furthermore, the director's efforts to make Alexander look like Jackson are completely foolish. The Caucasian makeup on Alexander's face makes him look more like a reverse minstrel show, and everyone who has been in a grocery store knows that Jackson's nose is not as big as Alexander's. It's also amazing to me that the film documents Jackson going under the knife to get cosmetic surgery, yet in the next scene, Alexander still has the same size nose. This kind of suspension of disbelief that the director expects can't hold up to TV viewers in the 21st century.

It was even more distracting when footage of the real Michael Jackson (i.e. the time he hung his infant child over a balcony in Germany) was interspersed into the movie in real time. It was a nice try, but it just didn't work.

If this movie as it is was released into theaters, it would gain a profit only because of its tackiness. It even pales in comparison to "Mommie Dearest", and that's saying a lot. Above all, this was a movie that was probably rushed into making, like many TV movies that aren't on HBO. It could have been done a lot better if it had just told of one aspect of Jackson's life. Even if it just covered the child molestation allegations, it probably would have been done a lot better and would have even been more intriguing.

Although I'm a Michael Jackson fan, I look at things very objectively.

As a fan, I hope he did not do what he is accused of, and I am happy that he was proved innocent on all charges.

First let me start off by saying trying to make a movie about Michael Jackson without 'Beat It' or 'Billie Jean' is like trying to make a hamburger without ground beef.

Not even one little "I'm Bad, you know it."

But since this movie was not made with MJ's blessing they could not use any of his music.

I really came into this movie expecting to see a sequel to "An American Dream".

Boy was I sorely disappointed.

If you're going to make a movie at least have your actors resemble the people they are portraying a LITTTLE!

Jeez! And Elizabeth Taylor around the time MJ was accused the first time in 93 hasn't looked that young in well....forever.

Flex as Michael Jackson? Lord where did the person who casted this movie get his start? I hope he doesn't cast his other projects this poorly.

My choice for Michael Jackson would have been one of his widely known impersonators like Edward Moss (the guy from Scary Movie 3. Even out of make-up, Moss resembles a Thriller-era Mike.

And although the movie tries to portray MJ positively and show us things from his side, it's so full of pity for MJ you almost forget that he had nothing to do with this movie.

The movie can't even get it's relationships right.

Janet and Michael are and always have been close, but he was never buddy-buddy with her first husband James DeBarge.

In fact, Michael doesn't even acknowledge the guy as a former brother-in-law.

No closeness between Michael and Jermaine. Jermaine is the brother that Michael is closest to.

And this movie is so chronologically displaced, it's not even funny. Furthermore, this movie portrayed Joe Jackson to be an asshole. He was in fact strict and very disciplined oriented but he still loves his boys. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs plays Joe a lot better. He was hard on them but there was a few good father/son moments between him and various sons. In 'Jacksons: An American Dream" where Michael is upset about Jermaine leaving the group and his about to perform for the first time without him, Joe pats Mike on the shoulder and says, "Mike, he'll be back someday."

And when he and Kate rush to the hospital after Michael is burned and the reporter asks him how does he feel about it,

JOE: "YOU HAVE ANY KIDS?"

REPORTER: "WHY, NO."

JOE: "THAT'S MY SON IN THERE....MY SON."

This movie just made Joe to be a completely heartless prick. It practically jumps straight from the 93 allegation to the Bashir interview in 2003. Then to the baby incident, which was in 2002.

What the hell?

How are you going to jump back a year?

I could talk about how bad this movie was all night, but who the hell's got the time?

I'm not one who would regularly give a negative review of a movie, even I have liked movies that others have blasted. However, I have to make a huge exception here:

First of all, there was no Michael Jackson music throughout the movie. And every scene was more like a sequence that lack depth, and the movie didn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

If you expected to see a sequel of "Jacksons: An American Family" you will be sorely disappointed, as this movie isn't nearly as deep.

Personally, I will rate a ** out of *****. (And I think I'm being generous).

Usually when a television biopic is released on a celebrity, its, at the very least, campy (i.e. Cybill Shepherd as Martha Stewart, Lauren BaCall as Doris Duke), this is the most horrendous, cheap, and BORING television movie ever made. If VH-1 is going to make a television film, they have GOT to spend a little more money on them. Flex Alexander--though gifted with the Michael voice--is not a great dancer, does not resemble Michael one bit, and does not even have his mannerisms down. VH-1 would have done better by hiring an actual impersonator, that way when see Michael go into get plastic surgery, he doesn't actually come out looking EXACTLY the same. Why should we be taken aback at the shrinking of Michael's nose when its exactly the same size as in the beginning of the film? The woman playing Elizabeth Taylor cannot act and looks nothing like her, and don't even get me started on the woman as Janet Jackson. Terrible script and a severe case of miscasting needs to keep VH-1 from producing any more movies. Flex Alexander would have made a much better JERMAINE JACKSON rather than Michael. Costumes? Trashy ripoffs. Neverland? Spliced together footage from news docs. Don't bother with this one....its not even remotely worth it. The one good piece of casting--the actor portraying Joseph Jackson and MAYBE the actress as Lisa Marie Presley, though she should have been more tomboy than girlie girl.