{"id":543839,"date":"2026-04-22T01:31:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543839\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:31:22","slug":"michael-jackson-movie-gets-early-rotten-tomatoes-score-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543839\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson movie gets early Rotten Tomatoes score revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Jackson biopic Michael<\/a> has finally seen its first reviews hit the internet and it’s safe to say that critics aren\u2019t enthused.<\/p>\n

The film has had a long and winding road to screens following delays, reshoots and even mid-production rewrites to change some of the film’s more controversial scenes.<\/p>\n

What remains appears to be a by-the-numbers biopic that has landed (at the time of writing) a disappointing 33% score on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> after 64 reviews and counting.<\/p>\n

In Radio Times’ two-star review<\/a>, Terry Staunton called the film, \u201ca test of endurance, as one over-simplified plot point follows another and Michael\u2019s dialogue increasingly embraces cod Messianic gibberish\u201d.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian<\/a> panned the film, calling it \u201ca 127-minute trailer montage assembling every music-movie cliche you can think of\u201d, in his two-star review.<\/p>\n

The Independent<\/a>\u2019s Clarisse Loughrey agreed, describing the film as \u201ca ghoulish, soulless cash grab\u201d, while Nicholas Barber of the BBC<\/a> called it \u201ca bland and barely competent daytime TV movie\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not all critics were down on the King of Pop’s long-awaited biopic treatment with Variety<\/a> and The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> both warmer in their reviews.<\/p>\n

Variety\u2019s Owen Gleiberman called the film \u201ca surprisingly effective middle-of-the-road biopic\u201d, while David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called the film \u201cmore soulful than you might expect\u201d.<\/p>\n

If that sounds like damning with faint praise, it\u2019s because none the few positive reviews of the film that exist at the time of writing are particularly glowing.<\/p>\n

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Michael is played in the film by his real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson, whose performance as the controversial pop icon seems to be one of the film’s few bright points.<\/p>\n

Pete Hammond of Deadline<\/a> said of Jaafar\u2019s performance: \u201cThis guy channels Uncle Michael in uncanny ways and simply sells this performance with all the right dance moves and sharp dramatic talent to make us believe Michael Jackson is once again with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in an otherwise scathing review for Little White Lies<\/a>, David Jenkins said of Jafar Jackson\u2019s work: \u201cIt\u2019s an impressive performance for a debut, achieving more than just body-popping cosplay and an evolution of image.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, though, it’s fair to say that critics aren\u2019t sold on the version of Michael Jackson that this glossy biopic is offering.<\/p>\n

Michael is released in UK cinemas on Wednesday 22 April.<\/p>\n

Check out more of our Film<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson biopic Michael has finally seen its first reviews hit the internet and it’s safe to say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-543839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}