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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
4
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Nov 19, 2021
Season 1 Review:
What’s more illuminating, however, is the way this documentary connects the dots from so-called Nipplegate all the way back to the beginning of Jackson’s career. ... Like everything in The New York Times Presents series, the evidence of the uproar is presented straightforwardly, letting its ridiculousness speak for itself.
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The Daily BeastNov 17, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Like Framing Britney Spears, it is most successful as a speed-read, an almost bullet-pointed rundown of the controversy at hand. ... Malfunction presents a timeline and an engaging reconsideration of a cultural discourse. But the most pressing voices—Jackson’s and Timberlake’s—are missing. That said, there’s an immense amount of gratification to be had from the rewriting of history to how it should have been.
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Nov 17, 2021
Season 1 Review:
Throughout, “Malfunction” is absorbing. But it can’t crack that question. As such, it often lends the sense that there’s surprisingly little to be learned from Jackson’s story. ... By story’s end, when Jackson is triumphantly thanking her fans for sticking by her until her latest triumph, viewers could be forgiven for wondering the point of relitigating her lowest moment.
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Nov 19, 2021
Season 1 Review:
What is notably missing is an account from Jackson herself. ... While some moments offer enlightening context, Malfunction still leaves the viewer with shards of a story that only the artist can reasonably glue together. It ends up serving as more of a platform for Timberlake’s potential redemption (yes, even with the inclusion of some apt criticism), which feels like an especially egregious outcome that raises questions about who this documentary is for.
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Nov 19, 2021
Season 1 Review:
While the furor merits an audit, and Malfunction delivers some trenchant insights, its disjointedness, limited access and myopia in exploring the political implications of the incident nicknamed “Nipplegate” keep it from reaching the same heights as its predecessors.
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