Michael (in theaters)

“Michael” isn’t so much a Michael Jackson biography as it is a stage show. 

Admittedly, it’s a well-made stage show. Jaafar Jackson manages an uncanny replication of his famous relative, Coleman Domingo is fantastically horrible as Jackson’s father, and the music is lovingly showcased. It feels like a splashy, spectacular tribute show, with just enough tension to build up the applause for the really triumphant bits. If you love Michael Jackson, there’s a lot here to appreciate.

But the Michael Jackson estate was looming over director Antoine Fuqua’s shoulder the whole film, and you can see that in every minute of the movie. If it was a news article, they’d call it a well-written puff piece. You’ll still like it if you’re a fan, but if you’re looking for anything at all balanced or serious you’re going to be disappointed.

The estate squashed any discussion of the alleged sexual assault issues, but the glossing goes deeper than that. There’s no grit here, no real shadows beyond Jackson’s father, and even that is carefully arranged. It becomes little more than a framework to make Jackson shine brighter, transforming it from a genuine trauma to a spotlight in a performance. This is Michael Jackson the icon, not the living, breathing human. 

It also ends abruptly and unsatisfyingly. The studio says they’re planning a sequel film, and as such the movie ends just after the release of Jackson’s “Bad” album. Even the sanitized version of the story’s narrative isn’t anywhere near done, or even at a resting point, and the sudden ending feels like a cheat.

Grade: Two and a half stars

Balls Up (Prime)

It’s sad when a filmmaker’s movies start feeling like knockoffs of their earlier work. They follow similar plots, are meant for similar audiences, but the earlier magic just isn’t there anymore. 

That’s the case with “Balls Up,” the latest from director Peter Farrelly. One half of the duo responsible for ‘90s hits “Dumb and Dumber” and “There’s Something About Mary,” Farrelly has returned to the raunchy screwball comedy genre. Unfortunately, the result feels like a copy made by someone else, missing the timing and madcap energy that made the earlier films famous. The movie tries to fill in the gaps with more jokes, but when they’re mostly not very funny it only makes the problem worse. Some genre fans may still be OK with it, but most will just be disappointed. 

The movie is wall-to-wall sex jokes, with some jokes about Brazilian cultural stereotypes thrown in for good measure. Two condom company employees are sent to Brazil to secure a World Cup sponsorship, then proceed to screw things up so badly that they destroy their company and ruin the World Cup. At that point, they’re forced to flee the country before they’re caught by everyone who wants them dead. 

Though they don’t have enough to work with, the cast does what it can. This isn’t the movie that will make you like Mark Wahlberg, but he once again proves he can do a solid job being a straight man in a comedic duo. Paul Walter Hauser is so much better than the material that it’s kind of tragic. Molly Shannon is as funny as you’d expect, and Benjamin Bratt much funnier.

If only they’d had a better movie to work with. 

Grade: One star

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Denver Film Critics Society and the Utah Film Critics Association. Drop her a line at [email protected].