How Michael Solved the Roman Polanski Problem...

May 2026

 

Miles Teller shows up in Michael in one of the more worst wigs I have ever seen in any film...

And it is so distracting I could hardly look at his character...

 

Michael is played by Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar...

Who is basically not much more than a good looking mannequin..

With dance moves...

 

Coleman Hughes...

Who is made up to really look like Joe Jackson...

Dominates every scene...

As he usually does...

 

But the actors playing Berry Gordy and Quincy Jones...

Are a brief blur in Antoine Fuqua’s movie...

So the significance of these men in Jackson’s rise to fame is lost...

 

In a film which is basically...

Joe being a jerk...

And Michael being a genius...

 

There are a couple of scenes of Michael performing some of his biggest hits....

And then endless pans of the enraptured crowd...

Which make up way too much of this film...

 

And yes, Antoine...

We get it... Jackson was really popular...

 

But by the fifth scene of a screaming crowd at a concert..

I had had enough...

 

And the fans at Jackson’s concerts in this movie...

Are mostly white...

And I haven’t seen that many white people in one place...

Since I moved to California...

 

So I suspect Fuqua was trying to make a point about Jackson’s crossover appeal ...

 

But as biopics go...

 

Michael is unremarkable...

Better than Springsteen... which was a real snooze...

Because Jackson was actually talented...

But not in the same league with Bohemian Rhapsody...

 

So the popularity of this movie has very little to do with its quality...

 

And in light of Jackson’s tainted legacy...

 

What explains its appeal?

 

Well...

 

I think the first clue was the number of women with walkers I saw making their way into the theater...

Many of whom were black...

And the number of children who were being brought by their parents...

 

So Michael Jackson is having a moment...

 

Because Michael Jackson the Musical...

Which has been around for a couple of years now...

Has also done very well...

 

And his estate has had a hand in all of this...

Which is why the accusations of pedophilia...

Have played no role in either of these productions...

 

And instead...

 

Both have made Joe the villain....

Who abused and bullied poor Michael...

Whose mother failed to protect her child...

 

So the point has been to make the audience feel sorry for Michael...

A sad genius who made great music....

 

Who was the victim...

Not the victimizer...

 

And I have to admit...it almost works...

To neutralize the Roman Polanski problem...
 

Of how to treat a talented artist...

Accused of reprehensible things...

 

Because the actors in both the film and the musical play Michael as this sweet innocent genius...

Which BTW was an image he carefully cultivated when he was alive...

 

And whenever Joe came at Michael in the movie...

The women in the audience booed...

 

But I think what really is drawing people to the theater is the music...

And the fact that a generation want their children and grandchildren

To be introduced to an artist who was so iconic in their youth...

 

And both the film and the musical...

Highlight the moments in Jackson’s career...

When he really did have cultural impact...

 

Performing Billie Jean at Motown 25...

The glove, the moon walk, the dance moves...

 

How the music video for Thriller...

Was like nothing we had never seen before...

 

And for the black community of that generation...

Their pride in Michael is still palpable...

 

So they cheered during the movie on the day I went...

Took pictures in front of the poster at the musical...

And came dressed to honor Michael...

 

And they brought children...

To learn about the first black artist to become a crossover Super Star...

 

Admired and feted round the world...

 

But the reaction of the children I saw...

Was mostly...meh...

Because they live in a world where Thriller is not iconic..

It’s a meme...

 

And the Millennials were altogether missing in the audience for both the film and the musical on the days I went...

Because by the time they were old enough to listen...

Jackson’s music.. and his dance moves had become stale...

 

And the Michael Jackson they knew...

Was the weird guy carrying around a monkey...

And hanging out with Gary Coleman...

 

Building a personal zoo and theme park...

That in light of the accusations that swirled around him..

Had the vibe of an old man offering kids candy from his van...

 

A strange man child..

Who had deformed himself with plastic surgery ..

A freak....

 

So I suspect the success of Michael at the box office..

Is tied to a generational appeal...

Which is mainly to Boomers and Gen X...

 

But the Michael Jackson the Musical is far better than the film...

For one important reason...

 

Fuqua’s Michael is a solitary genius...

Who watched a lot of movies...

And then worked alone in his room...

To create what made him famous...

 

But the Jackson at his pinnacle in the 80s...

Was the product of a talented team...

Who receive little credit in Fuqua’s film...

 

Michael Peters, the choreographer for Thriller...

Is never mentioned ....

But he brought Broadway level choreography to a music video...

John Landis the director of the Thriller video...

Gets a brief mention...

But it was his Hollywood director’s storytelling touch that took a music video...

And made it into a mini movie...

And then a documentary about the making of the video...

 

Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, James Brown all influenced Jackson’s iconic dance moves...

But only the musical gives credit to Bob Fosse...

 

Who was far more important to Jackson’s style...

 

But the most glaring absence in the film...

Is the role Quincy Jones played in Thriller...

 

His fingerprints are all over that album...

Which took Jackson away from the cotton candy sound of the Jackson Five...

To the haunting sounds of Human Nature...

And the captivating back beat of Beat It...

 

Jones was a true genius...

No matter who he worked with...

 

And when Jackson stopped collaborating with him...

His music was never as good...

 

So the problem with both the film and the musical...

Is they give too little credit to the Real Man Behind the Mirror...

May he now Rest in Peace...

 

Because there can be only one genius ...

In the story...

The estate wants told...

 

As they focus on reviving the reputation...

Of a long dead pop star...

Who did not go out in a blaze of glory...

 

And I think they may get what they want...

Even if all this attention did bring more accusers out of the woodwork...

 

Because the sad fact about Michael Jackson...

 

And both the movie and the musical highlight this...

 

Was that he was always a resource to be mined...

By too many people...

 

But especially his family...

 

When he was alive... and now that he is dead...

 

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