Man in the Mirror - The Michael Jackson Story
Flex Alexander's affecting performance in the lead role liftsMan in the Mirror, an account of the troubled, turbulent adult life of Michael Jackson. And a grim, melodramatic, and sometimes way over-the-top tale it is, as the film chronicles the litany of catastrophes visited on Jackson sinceThrillerturned him into the self-proclaimed King of Pop. It's all here: the Jehovah's Witnesses' horrified reaction to the supposedly blasphemous "Thriller" video (a disclaimer was added at their behest); the filming of the Pepsi commercial during which Jackson's hair caught on fire; the constant hectoring and bullying by his father, Joseph Jackson, and his subsequent alienation from his family; his many cosmetic surgeries; the debacle that was his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley; the controversial incident when he dangled his newborn son from his Berlin hotel room window; and, of course, the ongoing allegations of child molestation (to their credit, the filmmakers are fairly circumspect about the latter, neither condemning nor exonerating him). Through it all, Alexander plays Jackson as a true innocent, guileless and easily manipulated, wondering how the world can be so wicked ("What's wrong with love?" is a frequent refrain), and yet essentially kind, likable, and devoted to his fans. Alexander has Jackson's voice down, as well as some of his dance moves, and ifMan in the Mirrorcontains no actual Jackson songs or realistic performance footage, well, that's life in the low-budget world of made-for-TV movies (it originally aired in 2004 on VH-1).Man in the Mirrorhardly qualifies as great art, but in the end, it's nothing more, or less, than diverting, voyeuristic good fun.--Sam Graham