The Michael Jackson biopic Michael has been met with harsh criticism from reviewers, but audiences have given it a warm reception. The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, has a critics' score of just 40 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, with many reviewers accusing it of whitewashing Jackson's legacy by ending the story in 1988, before child sexual abuse allegations emerged.
Despite this, the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes stands at 96 per cent positive. On IMDB, the film has a rating of 7.6 out of 10, and on Letterboxd it averages 3.6 stars out of 5, with most ratings between 4 and 5 stars.
Michael stars Jaafar Jackson, the singer's nephew, as the King of Pop, alongside Nia Long, Mike Myers, Miles Teller and Colman Domingo. The film has also performed strongly at the box office, recording the biggest opening day for a musical biopic in the UK and Ireland, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis and Rocketman.
In a one-star review for The Independent, critic Clarisse Loughrey described the film as an 'act of allegiance' that resists story in favour of content, ensuring fans see what they expect.
