Is 'Michael' A Good Biopic? Here Are 10 Superior Ones
You wouldn’t think that Michael (2026) would be considered one of the most divisive movies of the year, but reactions to the biopic have been fierce. Videos of audiences dancing in the theater to Michael Jackson’s greatest hits have circulated online. If you want to look at the film as just a jukebox musical, it delivers what you would expect: fun new versions of classic songs. But as a biopic, it has A LOT of issues.
It’s a glowing look at Jackson’s career that refuses to acknowledge any personal faults or controversies, and the heavy involvement of Michael Jackson’s estate only further proves that point. The takeaway: You can enjoy Michael as a recreation of some of his best songs, but not as a meaningful look at his life and career. Like Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), it’s all style, no substance, which is a shame, because there are plenty of musical biopics that manage to be entertaining and tell a solid story.
Found on Prime Video, Paramount+, and more, these should be the gold standard for musical biopics, not Michael. If Michael left you wanting a biopic that doesn’t shy away from its subject, then give these 10 films a look.
As far as great modern musical biopics go, you can’t get much better than Rocketman. This love letter to Elton John captures everything that made him into a superstar while also reminding audiences that he’s a human being.
Rocketman doesn’t try to hide who Elton John is and paints him as a musical icon with no flaws. His struggles with his sexuality and drug addiction are on full display, but this comes from a place of authenticity, given how involved Elton John was in the making of the film.
At times, Rocketman becomes more like a musical fantasy that’s bursting with color and complex choreography, with all of the cast performing the songs themselves. It helps make each song feel like a spectacle on the same level as Wicked (2024), and in a rare feat for any musical, it arguably has no bad songs. Each song perfectly fits the scene it’s in, and Taron Egerton deserves all of the praise for perfectly capturing John’s boisterous eccentricities. It’s exciting, it’s honest, it’s awesome, it’s Rocketman.
Elvis, like Michael, is a biopic you either love or hate. At its worst, it’s not really a movie about Elvis, but rather his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, portrayed by a strangely cartoonish Tom Hanks. However, when it decides to focus on Presley, it’s absolute dynamite.
Like most biopics, the secret sauce is casting a great lead that best captures the charm and attitude of its subject, and Austin Butler does so with flying colors. Thanks to Baz Luhrmann’s direction, all of Elvis’ musical numbers have a frantic and heartpounding energy to them that really helps remind younger audiences that Elvis Presley was a global phenomenon.
A lesser Elvis biopic would solely focus on his peak and nothing else, but the film wisely doesn’t shy away from the darkness and self-loathing that plagued the singer’s later years. Yes, the Tom Parker scenes that frame the movie are odd and only serve to make this two-hour and 39-minute movie way longer than it needs to be, but Butler more than makes up for it with his smooth and suave cadence and performance.
Austin Butler may have failed at his chance to win an Oscar for his portrayal of Elvis, but the same can’t be said for Jamie Foxx’s depiction of Ray Charles in Ray, which earned him a Best Actor win.
Ray is the kind of film you see for its acting alone. It’s never easy for an actor to completely immerse themselves in a role, let alone a role with a disability like Charles’ blindness, but Foxx manages to capture Ray Charles’ essence perfectly. From the way he talks to the way he smiles, he genuinely feels like a younger Ray Charles, and it’s one of the most immersive performances from an actor in a biopic, right on the same level as Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance in Lincoln (2012).
The film also goes the extra mile in showcasing all of Ray’s life and not just a snippet of it, making it a fairly comprehensive look at his life and career. If you’re the kind of person who appreciates a good performance, then Ray will have you absolutely enamored.
You either love or hate country music, and it’s fair to say that most people hate it. But even its biggest detractors will have at least one country music artist they like, and nine times out of ten, that one will be Johnny Cash. The Man in Black is a legend, and Walk the Line honors him.
What separates Walk the Line from other musical biopics is that the script is heavily based on Cash’s own autobiography. Because of this, there’s an air of realness and grit to the film that other biopics simply don’t match. The funny thing is that Walk the Line isn’t just a biopic about Johnny Cash, but also about his wife and country music star, June Carter. So, you’re essentially getting a two-for-one deal.
It may be a bit sanitized compared to other biopics on this list, leaning more into the romantic side of things like Maestro (2023), but given how excellent Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are as Cash and June, respectively, those looking for a biopic with a dash of romance will love Walk the Line.
Straight Outta Compton did not get the respect it deserved when it was released in 2015. Despite generating over $200 million and earning critical acclaim, most major award bodies overlooked the film, which is a shame given how excellent it is.
The film is the rare musical biopic that works best as an ensemble piece. Anyone who’s a fan of hip-hop and rap knows who N.W.A. is, and focusing on all the core members and the people inspired by them reads like a who’s who of the best rappers of all time.
Straight Outta Compton doesn’t focus on the music as much as other biopics, but it doesn’t really matter when there’s so much else to discuss. Police brutality, systemic racism, and the rise of gangster rap all play out over the film’s two-hour and 27-minute runtime, making the film stand alongside Boyz n the Hood (1991) as one of the best depictions of Black culture in the ‘90s. A lot is going on in Straight Outta Compton, and not all of it is pretty, but it is worth watching and perfectly captures an era in music history.
Musical biopics tend to make the artists they’re portraying look good at the end of the day, but I can’t recall a biopic like A Complete Unknown that makes you marvel at just how much of a selfish jerk Bob Dylan is. A legend, undeniably, but also perhaps a divisive person.
The film smartly focuses on a period of Dylan’s life instead of trying to tell his whole story. By focusing on Dylan’s younger years, we see how dedicated to the craft he was, as well as how that passion eventually turns into egotism and hubris. It would fit in well with I’m Not There (2007) as a representation of Dylan’s behavior in the 1960s. To Timothée Chalamet’s credit, he plays a young and cocky Bob Dylan well.
The music may not be the focus of the film’s two-hour and 21-minute runtime, but A Complete Unknown prioritizes mood above all else. Music fans can definitely learn a thing or two about Dylan here, even if it isn’t the most flattering portrayal of him. Between this and Walk the Line, James Mangold is a director who knows how to make a good biopic.
People may have made fun of Better Man when it first released because it was the biopic with the CG dancing monkey, but if you actually give it a watch, you’ll find a film that somehow manages to make such a strange hook work.
If you’re someone in the United States, you’ve probably never heard of Robbie Williams, but in the UK, he’s a genuine superstar, and Better Man knows this. It follows the standard arc you would expect from a biopic, from rags to riches and everything in between. However, it savors the highs of Robbie’s life as pre-ecstasy.
If you can get over the sometimes wonky CGI and the fact that Robbie is depicted as a monkey (it makes sense in the film, I swear), you’ll find that Better Man, like Rocketman, cares a lot about making Robbie Williams feel like an actual person. We see him grow from being a clueless and arrogant pretty boy into a man, with an ending that will hit you right in the feels. Monkey or not, it’s a solid biopic that respects Robbie Williams and his career.
The Beach Boys are one of the most celebrated rock and roll bands of all time, and Brian Wilson is one of the most tragic musical figures of his era. He’s a man whose story is host to plenty of villains, all of whom come to life in Love & Mercy.
Much in the same way that Walk the Line extensively researched Johnny Cash’s life to make the film, Love & Mercy does everything in its power to keep the film as truthful to Wilson’s life as possible. Archival footage is used, and his friends, family, and band members were interviewed to gain a greater understanding of his life and what he was going through during the production of Pet Sounds and when he was under the “care” of Eugene Landy.
Thanks to the film constantly shifting between these two eras, it keeps the viewer engaged. Plus, Paul Dano’s performance as a younger Wilson may be the peak of his career, which is saying a lot given his stellar performance in There Will Be Blood (2007). Fans of the Beach Boys owe it to themselves to see Love & Mercy.
At a certain point, all biopics need to come to grips with how faithful they have to be. Do they want to be faithful to a fault, or embellish some facts here and there for entertainment value? Amadeus is a biopic that straddles the line between both. It may not be the most faithful musical biopic in existence, but does it really matter?
Despite the film focusing on the life and rise of Amadeus Mozart, like Elvis, we actually follow the subject’s story through the lens of the villain, Antonio Salieri, who recounts for two hours and 41 minutes his complex relationship with Mozart.
The film is probably one of the least historically accurate biopics on this list, but thematically, it perfectly captures what made Amadeus Mozart such a creative genius. He’s crass, a bit of a goof, but still able to create music that stirs the soul. In a way, it’s a lot like Titanic (1997). In our hearts, we know that the events of both films are totally fabricated, but it doesn’t matter because they keep us invested in their gargantuan runtimes. If you want a historical epic that never forgets to be entertaining, Amadeus is your film.
Amadeus may play fast and loose with historical accuracy, but Weird: The Al Yankovic Story takes that to a whole other level. By the technical definition, it is a musical biopic about Weird Al Yankovic. However, much like his music, don’t expect it to be anything other than a silly ride that embraces pure chaos.
Do not under any circumstances approach this movie with any semblance of logic. It doesn’t want you to rationalize what’s happening. It’s a mile-a-minute parody of musical biopics that makes fun of every trope in the book, much like Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016). If you know nothing about Weird Al, you’ll learn only the basics about his life and that Daniel Radcliffe does a remarkable job playing him.
Most importantly, the film captures the spirit of Weird Al perfectly. Normies may not understand why Pablo Escobar shows up or who Dr. Demento is, but fans do. At the end of the day, if a biopic can’t satisfy the artist’s fans, then is it really a good biopic? Weird: The Al Yankovic Story definitely is. And remember, Madonna is still out there, and she must be brought to justice.
