Last night, US music lovers made their way to Viacom‘s VH1 to catch the long awaited TLC ‘Crazy Sexy Cool‘ biopic, hoping to learn more of the story so many believed they were well versed in.
Now, hours removed from its unveiling, TGJ have compiled a number of reviews published in response to the flick, weighing in on a story many have described as both honest, telling but most importantly…inspiring.
Review round up below…
“The movie recreates without prioritizing. Themes are picked up and tossed aside and haphazardly picked up again. Left Eye’s grief about her demanding father’s sudden death is used to explain her reckless behavior, until it’s dropped as motivation. Chilli’s relationship with producer Dallas Austin gets undue screen time, only to end abruptly.
“While most of the rough edges have been sanded off—arson and alcoholism and discord are ultimately no match for sisterhood—a feistiness remains. Did TLC really burst into Clive Davis’ office with a posse of other women and start confiscating anything that said “TLC” on it, before kicking Puffy out of a meeting with Davis so they could talk about their contract? I don’t know, but I love that the surviving members of TLC embrace the story as part of their legend.”
“For younger viewers unfamiliar with TLC’s history, it was a compelling introduction to arguably the biggest girl group in music history; and for long-time fans of the former trio, it was a heartbreaking roller coaster, recalling incredible highs and devastating lows.”
“From the fans’ perspective, it works like this—an artist comes out with a single, it becomes a hit, they put out a music video, they release the album, they go on tour, they get rich. Not TLC. The whole overarching theme of the film is how they were Grammy-winning artists who sold over 10 million records but still were broke. It kind of sheds LA Reid, who owned their label at the time, in a poor light, but I found it interesting to see how things work on the business side so whatever. I’m sure he got over it.”
“Written by Kate Lanier and directed by Charles Stone III, “CrazySexyCool” (the title of the group’s second album) doesn’t bring anything fresh to the narrative. Indeed, for all the promises about deep, dark revelations, at times it’s all pretty transparently an extended music video-style promotion for a TLC comeback (including a collaboration with Lady Gaga), dutifully replicating hits like “Waterfalls.”
Moreover, the movie doesn’t really end so much as simply run out of time, featuring the actual artists performing and a montage of highlights.
Still, the story and central players are intriguing enough that the combination of music and melodrama pretty well speaks for itself, without requiring much embellishment. And if this isn’t a movie worth chasing, to borrow a lyric from one of those TLC tunes, if any of those songs sounds familiar to you, it’s not half bad either.”
“CrazySexyCool fails on a number of planes, but its biggest faults come from its blatant inability to look at the group from an outsider’s perspective. The movie has clunky exposition, horrible lip-synching, and questionable messages about relationships, but more than anything, it’s just goddamn hokey. Considering both Watkins and Thomas developed and signed off on the script, it shouldn’t be a surprise that rather than presenting a story about Lopes’ struggles with alcoholism and the series of deadbeat men in the group’s life, Crazy comes off as a story about three wacky girls who might have grown up without dads, but always knew they were stars. Narrated in part by Watkins’ and Thomas’ characters, the biopic finds the group battling and overcoming cartoonish villains—from manager Perri “Pebbles” Reid, who signed the group to a bad contract, but apparently didn’t really try all that hard to keep them around, to Lopes’ ne’er-do-well boyfriend “Larry,” who everyone but her knows is married.
While it’s got to be hard to tell the story of three members’ lives and one band’s career in two hours, everything in CrazySexyCool is painted with such broad, hazy strokes that the entire thing reads like a Chicken Soup For The Soul story: Try hard enough, sing and dance well enough, and everything will be all right.”
“The simplistic dialogue in the film, named after TLC’s hit 1994 album, is a bit disappointing coming from Kate Lanier (“What’s Love Got to Do With It”) and most of the time the story steamrolls from one setback to another without ever really revelling in the girls’ tremendous success.
And while the performances from Palmer, Lil’ Mama and Sidora never rise above standard-issue acting, they emulate TLC’s look perfectly and capture enough of the sisterly bond that existed among the threesome to make their portrayals credible.”
“At minimum, the film has verisimilitude. The resemblances between the actresses and their subjects can be disorienting, and the wardrobes are faithful to the early 1990s, full of screaming colors in Mack Truck-size silhouettes. Director Charles Stone III (“Drumline”), does an admirable job remaking old music videos almost note for note and synthesizing faux vintage footage of varying types into a visually dynamic whole.
But as the film swerves from one speed bump to the next, it takes TLC’s success and acclaim largely for granted, a clear violation of the “Behind the Music” blueprint. Often, the actresses do little more than appear on screen to deliver the heavy-handed, exposition-thick dialogue by Kate Lanier. Maybe that was a strategic choice. Watching Ms. Palmer and Ms. Sidora — in character — respond to the news that Left Eye has died (in a car crash in Honduras, in 2002), their mouths agape, it’s easy to long for the simple pleasures of documentary.”
“Though all three leading ladies gave exceptional performances, the stand-out for me was Keke Palmer as Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. As I watched her go through the process of having an abortion, feeling every bit of her pain and confusion, I could hardly believe this was the same girl I used to watch on Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP. She really left an impression on me.
“For younger viewers unfamiliar with TLC’s history, it was a compelling introduction to arguably the biggest girl group in music history; and for long-time fans of the former trio, it was a heartbreaking roller coaster, recalling incredible highs and devastating lows.”
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i watched the movie last night , and i thought it was great. As we know it wasn’t possible to highlight everything, what they were able to highlight was very well done.
it was truely great honey!! hey sam, kanye proposed to that S*** kim karTRASHian and she excepted. #2slores
what does that have to do with us rejoicing at the TLC movie?
fail school systems “excepted” ?????????
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TLC are f***** legends
Yes they are.
The movie was very well done. Its gonna be played multiple times like “The Jacksons” & “Whats Love Got To Do With It?”. Instant classic! Lil Mama played the mess out of Left Eye!!!! She sould get nominated for something!!!!! Anyways, I miss those days of music were we had so much to choose from. Now we got Miley Cyrus & stupid pop b******… *YAWNNN*
I thought it was great….especially considering a vh1 budget ..absolutely no shade
I was such a TLC stan back in the day lol. T-Boz was the coolest chick in the world to me. As far as the movie, I loved it. I understand how hard it is to squeeze 10 years(92-02) into two hours, but they did a great job nonetheless. I knew Lil Mama would nail her Left Eye portrayal. Antics aside, she’s a very talented chick. Keke & Drew were great too. I give it a 4/5 🙂
I haven’t seen it yet but judging from the reviews, it’s a must see. I have to make an effort to make sure I rent it once it hits iTunes.
Now playing: Double rainbow by Katy Perry.
they wont show it in the UK. THE UK NEVER SHOWS ANY BLACK SHOWS. IT WAS GREAT.
You are a very racist mammal
how was that racist? here in the UK shows starring black actors get little to no airtime.
I loved every second! TLC was a BIG part of my childhood, because my mother is a borderline stan. Lol.. All of the girls did great, ESPECIALLY Lil Mama! Oh and that shady b**** Pebbles, derserves a special area in hell! 😉
Pebbles is a preacher now. I guess she has upgraded to pimping her congregation out of their money lol.
Lol WHAT??? A PREACHER?? I can’t believe this! I guess people do change, but to go from scam artist to preacher….unbelievable loooool
Most preachers ARE scam artist.
Lol well you do have a point!
Hey hey hey….you can’t say most lol. A lot of them are honest people, the scam artists just get more shine unfortunately.
TLC FOREVER HONEY!!!!!
Lil mama you did your thang boo! Keke gurrrrrl are you really an actress? and drew well done! I loved the movie overall and oh yeah PEBBLES eat s*** b****!!
Why the shade at Keke? She did great
I enjoyed reliving my childhood last night. Unpretty is one of my fave songs of all time. All three ladies did a fantastic job especially Lil Mama!!!
Yes unpretty and scrubs bring back soooooo many memories.I loved those songs so much and begged my mom for the “tape” until she finally gave me her copy!! That album was apart of SO many family roadtrips #memories
Keke messed the movie up for me though. She is not a good actress! I was not convinced about her chilli role at all! They should have cast someone else, But other than that the movie was pretty good!
True but it’s not like many ppl knew Chili personally that well to notice. Left eye and t boz were the ones with the outlandish personalities. Chili was supposed to be the more chill one I guess? Idk….but Kekepalmer did alright. I think she has the same type of smile and demeanor in every role she does which might throw ppl off about her acting.
The movie was so good. Lil mama did her thing, I can’t believe how pebbles took advantage of those girls smh.
Loved the film, this is our Jackson American Dream, The Temptations, 5 Heart Beats. I seen TLC, and I knew the story. My only issue is that Chilli didn’t get to talk tk Left Eye before her passing, wish they would’ve kept that in to show a message. They had the quotes down to the T (expect the grammy press, Left Eye said “you’ll be broke to if you have greedy people behind you.” But all it was good and to squeeze 12 years in two hours I s hard, but was well done.
TLC Forever!
A FANTASTIC movie!! Especially for a network film. TLC has such a unique and inspiring story. Well done! I”m getting that soundtrack too!
Pebbles is low down dirty scum for using & taking advantage of those woman.
Oh, Karma’s got Pebbles number, address and social security #. I bet 20 years ago when she was screwing these girls over did she ever think they’d make a movie based off their lives putting her thirsty greedy a*s on blast!
omg it was great, i cried at the end ! i love how it was kind of a ‘back scene’ on the music industry…. The glits and the Glam are just facets…
TLC is the main reason why I don’t feel sorry for the music industry not being able to sell music. Nsync went though the same thing, how the hell you only give the artist 8% AND they have to pay back their expenses?! You all better go independent for now on, cause with 360 deals, these artist aren’t getting that!
Rigpuppet is prolly just as broke as TLC in the 90s kii
Rihpuppet
Rihanna is richer than the nobody you stan for…..
Omg if these girls sold 10 million albums had lots of hits and grammys & they were broke just imagine Rita ora & Ciara situations right now…
They’re better off because they don’t have to take the money they do earn and split it 3 ways
Lmao. Girl….
I think that what a lot of reviews forget to mention is !st that it was a tv movie which had to contain a lot of info into a short space of time, as well as making the story/journey accessible and lighthearted enough for a younger audience. You could be an original TLC fan and watch this film with your kids without any major concerns. the 2nd thing this also fails to mention is what a fantastic job Lil Mama did with both channeling the essence of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and also looking incredibly like her at times. This girl had been written off by many media outlet and people complained that she wasn’t right for the role, but she had the most to do, did it well and rose like a phoenix from the ashes. I hope big things happen for all the ladies after this
TLC is the best group of all time they broke serious barriers and was very diverse in their sound and covered many issues. I just wish lol mama should’ve done left eye rap in no scrubs!!! overall I liked how they managed to stay together with all of the drama surrounding them that’s true friendship! I can’t be broke and successful at the same time, you can tell that they really wanted to do music and neyo did amazing on meant to be that song is perfect!
It was good but i wish they would have done it in 2 parts. I wanted to see more ….Lil Mama did great. I miss Left Eye…
There was really nothing new that was revealed….other than I didn’t know if Left Eye got a chance to see T-boz’s baby.
I loved it!
I agree that the film did move extremely fast in order to get everything in.. and I also agree that it seemed to highlight the traumatic moments without really showing the big success moments long enough. But I guess they couldn’t enjoy the success because Pebbles was like “oh you went platinum!.. get back on the stage” and they had no cash.. so I get it.
But all that aside, Lil Mama was excellent! I agree with someone else that Keke really was the worst of all three at portraying her particular character. At least Drew tried to pull tomboy very well and also make her voice raspy at times. Overall excellent job on a vh1 budget. I feel that the actresses aren’t going to get much money from this. It was just an opportunity to be a part of maybe a future classic.
The music industry is very shading those girls were used and paid scraps Pebbles and La Reid are dead wrong for that b******* i hope this isnt still happening to artist but sadly i think it is..
shady*
Oh it is, 360 deals, now labels take % of their tours and other deals.
Smh these labels are greedy they truly dont care for these artist its all about the money.
Well the music industry is a business. That’s why you have to read your contracts and hire lawyers.
@Rose true
The thing with TV movies vs Box office movies is that it’s never going to go to the full depths of what people want to see.
What this movie did do was show us how wack Crystal was!!!
Pebbles had her own back so if the group didn’t make it it was going to be costing them money rather than her and if they made it she’d be rolling in it Pebbitone style.
Chilli got rid of her child for a career after being put back in the group. She was owed a baby from Dallas and she made sure she got it.
Left Eye felt lost after her dad had passed and she couldn’t have the closure of going to his face and saying “I told you I’d make it” to make him proud.
Also she was very easy influenced but others in her ear, which was a shame because it messed up parts of the fanmail album (No scrubs originally had no rap until video version).
The other stuff got explained in both Behind the music episodes..
I enjoyed it and I was most impressed with the inner strength of T-Boz because she basically put her life on the line to have what she has.
Lil’ Mama slayed and at times looked EXACTLY like Left Eye (R.I.P)
apparently Chilli felt she was owed a baby from Dallas, but at least in the movie Dallas told her it was her choice. So I honestly don’t understand her being adamant about having Dallas’ baby.. but I’m not judging her. Her story is understandable. I think she loved Dallas.. but it’s weird how they showed her breaking up with him not long after she had the baby.. and by that time Dallas kinda wanted to put a ring on it..
Dallas wouldn’t have changed. He would have put a ring on it after being caught up in the moment, then later kept cheating on her. Chilli attracts cheaters. She went from him to Usher, who basically acted the same way.
The song sounds better with left eye’s rap. I get mad whenever I hear that song on YouTube or the radio and left eye’s verse isn’t there.
I LOVED THIS!!!*cries* So much memories from my childhood! TLC will always be a part of me! And pebbles,I hope karma comes tearing down at your door b****.
Now Playing:TLC-No Scrubs
Well done to the girls because must of been hard putting that together to make it 1hr 45mins.
The movie was mostly about stuff we already knew (TLC and knowledgeable music fans), but at least stuff was added that we TOTALLY didn’t know also.
I really enjoyed watching it just because I’m a fan and they interesting enough.
Mainly this is done to pay homage to a MASSIVE group that made a huge impact in the Industry. They had a very very eventful road but an ultimately successful one also.
You don’t sell the numbers they did if just based on influencing R&B & Hip-Hop fans.
I loved it! Lil mam really outshined the other girls in this movie.
Also I cried my eye out like a big baby on that meant to be song. I loved it.
The parts in the movie that caught my attention were when left eye sait infront of the wwaterfall before she died and she was the one the wrote dont go chasing waterfalls. That was so creepy to me… I wonder who was that b**** on the red carpet that was trying to come for left eye supernova album at the grammys. The movie was good in it filled in a lot of blanks. Lol but why every group gota have a David Ruffin.. lisa rest ur soul boo but if you held me up from 25000000 after crying to the world about being broke we woulda had to fight
& why did left eye stop hangin around tboz n chilli around the middle of the movie what happened to the friendship….
she was trying to do a solo album & she was seeking spiritual healing u can google DR. SEBI he’s a holistic doctor who claims he cured her h*****….
I thought the TLC movie was well done overall, but Tbh there were some parts that I wish they had elaborated on. Did TLC really just patiently wait (after going platinum) until they reached 10 million albums sold to worry about money/contracts, etc.? How much did the group recover financially once the new manager/deal was on the table? Did T-Boz get her mom that house?
Anyway, Lil’ Mama almost makes you want this film to be completely about the Left Eye story (and she wasn’t even my favorite in the group). She did an excellent job. Keke & Drew were very average actresses. Still I enjoyed it and I really respect TLC for accomplishing so much after all they’ve been through.
I didn’t know they were signed to pebbles label & that she was a business woman, I just thought LA did them dirty & that pebbles spent their money on bags & clothes, etc. But this movie made me respect T-Boz bc I was hard on her before because I thought she looked down at artists of today & now I respect her personally, not just for her musical achievements I would’ve liked to see them talk about the 3-D era & recording after lisa’s death & they didn’t address part of the reason she burned down Andre’s house was bc she was being abused. T-Boz divorced Mac10 for the same reason..
But I give it 6/10 bc I felt Dru looked the part but didn’t give me the the edge that T-boz has personality-wise
and @ that girl on twitter, Keke is a WONDERFUL actress, she just gave too much of a dramatic performance & enunciated more than Chilli does IRL
And the girl Brave from Richgirl does anyone know who that was supposed to be who came for left eye @ the grammys ? like who was she playing ? That must’ve REALLY happened & it had to have been a reporter or another industry girl
I need answers ?????
She said her character was “lead singer” from another group…. She wasnt anyone in particular but only one group wore Green that Grammy night… They was hinting she was Beyonce
^ u know what & I had a feeling so thats why T-Boz always shades beyonce?????????????
Stop making a beef that aint there. T Boz and all the other TLC girls always praise Beyonce, and Beyonce has always praised them and their influence on her.
It looked like lil Kim.
^ It wasn’t kim bc she didn’t dress like that – she wore her boobs out and never had a curly blonde wig and Kim was always cool w/ Left Eye even moreso than TLC so she wouldn’t have approached them like that
Very well executed biopic and Lil Mama played the hell out of Left Eye she deserves some kind of special recognition. They definitely did the story of TLC justice in all the right areas. My sis and I watched and it did bring tears to my eyes at some points. I really enjoyed it! Great Job! *Claps*
Don’t want to start anything, but it’s a well known fact that Lisa was the mastermind behind the group. Each album concept was her ideals.Hell, she pretty much made another TLC with Blaque. I don’t get why they didn’t give her solos on the FanMail album, T and Chili has solo records. They lost a huge factor when Lisa passed. And I don’t think Lisa was broke, she had writers credit on those albums, Chili was married to Dallas, so she was good as well. T Boz wrote Unpretty, plus their Fan Mail World tour, they got money.
No, she did not get paid just like anyone bc the contract said they had to repay the losses
they really didnt start making $$$ until Fanmail which was successful, but not ass successful as Crazy S*** Cool
They estimate Chilli at 10Mil but she’s dated Usher & Dallas Austin is her BD
Tboz had illness so she’s broke, although she might have a mil now that she’s producing & featured on J Coles album
Its pretty sad bc theres really no resolution – left eye is gone
Left Eye didn’t have more parts on crazy s*** cool & fan mail because she was awol for a big chunks of the process.
One was due to he rehab stint for Andre burning house incident and other was her not being fully invested in the album due to wanting to be solo and missing sessions.
It kinda sad that Lisa ended up chasing the waterfalls instead of sticking to the Rivers & the Lakes that she’s used to.
I loved this movie!
I can’t wait to get off work, and finally watch this movie….BEEN WAITING, & I knew LIL MAMA would slay!
I saw it last night twice. I liked it a lot. It had it’s flaws but overall the movie was a good watch. I have always felt they are to big to have their story told on vh1 instead of the silver screen,but then again so were the Jackson 5.itiswhatitis
I loved it, no shade but I would have loved a destiny child movie to be like this but I guess not because destiny child does not have a sad success story like tlc and also they had beyonce’s father to back them up. Even if they say he stole from them, he also protected them from a 360 deal and other miss fortune that cones from being a new artist. Love TLC always. Follow @mildrednwabs on twitter.