I might as well go ahead and get it out of the way early: wow, does this movie suck. Rushed to air on VH1 in late 2004 after the latest Michael Jackson brouhaha consumed our every waking moment, this slight, redundant and wholly unnecessary dramatization of Michael Jackson's rise to stardom and subsequent downfall, Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story, comes off like a bad Saturday Night Live sketch at worst and an ill-fated Court TV re-enactment at best.

Starring Flex Alexander as the titular Jackson (and who, of course, nails the vocal aspect but bears only the slightest physical resemblance), the film tracks Jackson's life from the early days of stardom in the Jackson Five up through the latest allegations of child molestation and scandal – even managing to throw in a Martin Bashir look-alike. Despite claims on the DVD packaging that this film would sidestep (and I quote) "...(O)verdone plastic surgery, pet chimps, dangling babies, extravagant spending sprees and lurid allegations," it pretty much proceeds to do just that and ignore what is offered up as the film's real raison d'etre: "...(T)rack(ing) Jackson's complicated rise to superstardom – where he came from, how it shaped him, the impact he made on pop culture, and most importantly, who the MAN IN THE MIRROR (emphasis theirs) really is."

Uh huh. I didn't know any more about Jackson when the movie ended than I did when it began – or least nothing I couldn't learn from a few hours of "Inside Edition." At barely 90 minutes, the filmmakers were obviously pushed to fill a feature-length slot with a story they could barely even flesh out. There are the tussles with his overbearing father, the infamous Pepsi commercial fire, the desire to never grow up, the oh-so-debilitating vitiligo and so on and so forth. Over the years, there have been numerous attempts at making the definitive filmic version of Jackson's life. This - most definitely - is not it.

The Video:

Despite its utter crapulence, Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story actually looks pretty decent – which is a shame, since you'll probably spend most of the running time closing your eyes in either boredom or disgust. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer spots some edge enhancement, but is free of halos and noise.

Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story is presented solely in Dolby 2.0 stereo. There aren't any Jackson tunes to be heard (darn those pesky clearance rights) so other than cornball dialogue and a wildly overdone score – both of which come through perfectly clearly – there's not much for the soundtrack to do.

Paramount didn't see fit to include any extras – not even a free sequined glove.

Unless you've got 90 minutes you don't mind losing forever, you would do well to stay far, far away from this limp, wretched excuse for a TV movie. If Jackson weren't so busy with his attorneys, I'd suggest he sic a few of 'em onto the fine folks at VH1 – if this isn't defamation of character, it's gotta be close. Skip it.