Man in the Mirror – The Michael Jackson Story (2004)
Man in the Mirror – The Michael Jackson Story (2004)
Man in the Mirror – The Michael Jackson Story (2004) Reviews
This is the first movie I have seen that I wanted to rip the DVD out of the player and break it. The acting sucks. In fact, the extras in the movie give better performances than the leads. The story sucks. You could make a fun drinking game though. Watch the movie and drink every time MJ says the word neverland.
If you are not a MJ fan, you will hate this movie. If you are a normal MJ fan, you will hate this movie. If you are the biggest MJ fan in the world, you will HATE this movie.
Pop question hot shot….What’s the stupidest idea ever? No Michael Jackson music in a Michael Jackson movie! Yep that’s right. No Beat It, no Thriller, no Billy Jean. Just cheesey music.
Take the money you were about to spend on this DVD and pay someone to kick you in the balls, hard, because that would be better than this movie.
Who ever played the part of Michael Jackon needs to be monkey stomped to death!!!-I find it hard to believe that someone would take the time out to write, direct, and act in such a tabloid filled mess.-Also, I bet the director never yelled “CUT” once during the entire production of this sorry excuse for a movie!!-If you plan to watch this movie, -let me give you a little advice: Don’t waste your time. “Man in the mirror” is very low budget, over-the-top, and meaningless. This movie is a abomination. It lacked four key elements:
1. Entertainment 2. Music 3. Passion 4. -and HEART!
-And any true Michael Jackson fan can tell you, he is all of these things and so much more.
It was summer of 2004. Somewhere in the season marks a day of travesty, and people who have seen it are either scared for life…or decided to take that memory of absurdity and throw it out the window. Even if you’re a fan, there’s something wrong with this picture. Hence this tv-movie I’m going to review, “Man In The Mirror.”
~R3VI3W~
Months ago, I was watching Vh1 when they played a made-for-tv movie display the good side of Jacko, “Man In The Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story”, and boy, it’s about as ugly as Michael Jackson’s mugshot. Vh1 is the channel known for satirical tv segments and “I love the decades” laugh-a-thons, but this movie, the company is ACTUALLY being serious; SHOCKING! Even though made-for-tv movies are the lowest-common-denominators of filmography outside of HBO, some of those movies have gotten some ideas right. No chance of finding the right idea here, and I’m better of just smashing a mirror than watching it.
The things about this movie could’ve been promosing:
Having a covincing-looking actor to play Michael Jackson?…nope.
Oh well, since this is a MJ movie, can the movie have licensed MJ songs playing the music score?…forget it.
At least the movie is a biopic on MJ’s problems, right? That’s right, and it’s as generic as it comes.
Considering this the indirect sequel/spin-off of “The Jacksons: An American Dream”, this movie is about what people should already know about Jacko through gossip magazines and ET. After becoming independent from his abusive father, MJ does whatever music artist does to gain popular status: reinventing himself. And by revinventing himself, I mean carving his nose and cover his vitiligo skin with ivory lotion due to the commerical incident (Thanks, Pepsi), following by building a theme park of his childhood dreams. Eventually, his career goes into a downward spiral due to copyright lawsuits and the ever-popular, and current, child-molesting charges.
This could’ve work, because this movie’s showing the innocent side of michael that some people are too prejudice to see. Unfortunately, too many distractions occur to take this seriously. I must meet the people of this movie’s makeup department, so I can beat them up for doing an insulting job on the cast. None of the cast look much like their real counterparts, and then there’s the guy who played Mike. Who thought smearing flour on his face instantly makes him MJ? Not only is this the worse make-up job since “White Chicks”, they don’t seem to get the memo WHEN they’re suppose to do a lousy job; if the real MJ was more light-skinned and carved in 1987, the actor playing him should also look more light-skinned and carved during that era!
Acting-wise…well, it’s as convincing as the make-up job. I’m sure the Jacko actor had some convincing lines, but it didn’t help for the whole one-dimensional vibe of the roles. Another thing that annoyed me, besides the make up, is the rushed pacing. Scenes are over way too sudden, and some didn’t take the time for the scenarios to be fleshed out, especially the scene when Micheal meets the nurse and had children; that scene didn’t take the time to add character on the nurse. I felt the movie was in a hurry to get this finish, the same way I felt when watching this.
Speaking as a fan of his music, “Man in the Mirror” is a passable movie that could’ve been treated way better, even for a tv flick. This movie would work if the cast were believable, the scenes weren’t so rushed, and it would have actual MJ music in it (it worked for the MC Hammer tv movie); none of that happened, so it all falls apart in the process. The only tv movie besides “Man In The Mirror” that would’ve deal with much more failure is “Zolar”…and I still can’t believe that movie made it on DVD. So what if this movie did a good job at being sympathetic towards MJ…that’s not enough.
FIN/\L WORDS: Avoid this like you avoid taking your children to Neverland Valley.
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