“Michael” Reviews Are Brutal, Fans Are Thrilled: Can We Celebrate The King Of Pop?
How Men Think
iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
One of the most anticipated films of the year, “Michael” hits theaters this weekend and previews are already showing a record number of people filling theaters for a musical biopic. The reviews, however, have not been kind to the film. The biggest issue, that the movie is basically an extended music video of Jackson’s early hits and completely sidesteps the allegations and charges of child sexual abuse that plagued the singer for decades. There’s an explanation for that omission and a heavy hint that there’s more to come in a potential sequel. The question is whether the film is too much of a fairy tale, complete with a happily ever after ending… a question that has even divided members of Jackson’s own family.
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:06.1 | Hey there, folks. |
| 0:07.1 | It is Friday, April 24th. |
| 0:09.7 | And it's finally here. |
| 0:12.4 | Michael, the movie, is now out. |
| 0:15.7 | But even before it came out, the reviews started coming in. |
| 0:20.2 | And they are awful. If you listen to the critics, listen to the fans, |
| 0:25.6 | they love it. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and T.J. Roves, let's start with the top. |
| 0:30.1 | When you see a big disparity on Rotten Tomatoes, this huge, it tells you what. |
| 0:36.5 | Well, it usually tells me, I usually go with the audience. |
| 0:39.4 | So the audience gave it a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. |
| 0:44.8 | The critics gave it 40%. |
| 0:47.2 | And that's being kind, because when you actually read some of the reviews, especially those |
| 0:52.1 | in notable publications, they're not just awful. I would actually |
| 0:55.9 | use the word brutal. Okay, are they? And we're going to get into that because some of this, |
| 1:00.1 | and you know what, I'll ask you, you read through more reviews than I did, but one of the questions |
| 1:04.0 | I want to ask, how much of it sounds personal? Because some people are questioning that some people |
| 1:09.1 | are just after this guy. We'll get into that. But |
| 1:11.9 | Robs, you said 40%. When it first came out, it was lower than that. It was, I think, in the 30s. |
| 1:17.2 | Yes. 27 was the first one I told. Oh, really? 27. Okay. I didn't even see that. So yes, obviously |
| 1:21.5 | there are some. I think a lot of folks, here's the problem. The critics, they appreciate, |
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