Reviews

There are quite a few moments in the film that made me cringe, and unfortunately not all of them had something to do with the horrible attack or the aftermath. The decision to make the Norwegian actors speak English is beyond me. Not because of their accents, but because it's not believable and keeps reminding you that the actors are acting out a part to get a message accross to a wide audience (that is apparently too lazy for subtitles).

Don't get me wrong, I love Spike Lee and I love MJ, but this documentary just isn't that good. I saw it at the Filmfestival in Venice this summer, and was really looking forward to it, especially since Spike was there at the viewing. He was cool. The film let me down a little bit, though. Even though especially the footage of the making of 'Bad' and the origins of other songs were great to see and very interesting, some of the interviews with celebrities were not. People like Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey did not have a lot to contribute, and for me the tear-jerking question 'where were you when you heard about Michael's death?' (followed by a montage of celebrities looking down, tearing up etc) could have been left out. It is important to pay a tribute to the King of Pop, of course, but it could have been done in a tighter and 'smoother' way. It reminded me too much of some MTV 'The Rise & Rise of..' format. The style of the film (talking head, weird cross zoom rotate fade, original footage, talking head) was also part the reason why to me it felt it should have ended about twenty minutes before it did.

This was by far the biggest disappointment I've seen in months. As I watched this film I kept wondering if I would have liked it if the dominating music would have been more my style. The answer is no.

I don't understand all the praise this movie is receiving. It is simply a bad movie. The characters are all very hollow, there is no message that sticks, the appearance of the angelic 'Dangerous Woman' that I think was meant as a special highlight of the film did not impress at all; it actually made me laugh, that's how sad I was. Not once did I feel for once of the characters or was I wondering what was going to happen next(mostly because I could easily predict what would happen next). Meryl Streep plays a very annoying part as Yolanda Johnson; for the first time I didn't even like watching her. Lindsey Lohan, who is supposed to attract some young crowd I guess, tries her best to make something of the horrible part she got. They are all trying very hard. Kevin Kline too, who is not, has never been, and will never be funny! The reason I give this film two points is because of Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly. They looked great on stage together and were occasionally funny with their catchy songs. Still, a real bummer.