Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story (2013)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Don't Believe the Hype

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

As far as biopics go, this was one of the better ones. I liked learning about the group and its origins, including seeing things I had known about and seeing thing I hadn't. I liked the recreations of the videos, seeing them meet, the auditions for the record company, their first going out on the road, Left Eye displaying her "crazy" personality (including acting out in the bars and burning down Andre Rison's house), and the bandmates' reactions to her tragic death. I think this was pretty accurate and well made with excellent performances and good concert scenes.*** out of ****

VH1's original film CrazySexyCool tells of the rise of one of the biggest acts in urban music history, TLC. Beginning in Atlanta in the early 1990's, the film delves into the humble beginnings of Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins (Drew Sidora), Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes (Naitia Kirkland) and Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas (Keke Palmer) who dominated the US and global charts in the 90s and early 2000s. Remaining members Watkins and Thomas served as executive producers on the film, however it's the performance of Kirkland (aka Lil'Mama) that will be the most talked about for her uncanny portrayal of the group's late rapper Left Eye.Running over two hours, the film covers the group's explosion on the hip-hop scene as they were discovered and signed by Pebbles (Rochelle Aytes) and LA Reid (Carl Anthony Payne II), the latter who has gone on to become one of the most notable music executives in the business. The film gives equal time to the girl's relationship dramas as to their financial worries, which caused them to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and renegotiate their contracts before their third album release.The film's score interlaces notable instrumental and acapella sections of the group's hits, including What About Your Friends, Unpretty, No Scrubs and Waterfalls. However, it's the section featuring the track Creep that is the most memorable, with the production capturing the tumultuous events that lead to the infamous arson incident featuring Lopes and former partner Andre Rison.Solid performances by Aytes and Evan Ross (Dallas Austin) and incredible recreations of TLC videos will leave fans more than pleased, however some die-hards may feel as though the film misses out the perspective of Lopes, whose creative and spiritual journey towards the end of her life interrupted the group's promotions of their album Fanmail. For that, audiences will find documentary The Last Days of Left Eye as an insightful look into the inner world of the L in TLC.Along with Straight Outta Compton, this is one biopic that is likely to stand the test of time and is a must see for R&B music aficionados.

I enjoyed the film. It's honestly sad to see how the music industry can mess with people that have dreams of becoming a superstar. It shows how it can be a tough ride in a crazy music world. Decent!!I think they did a good job of casting the girls. It showed everything from Love to torn friendships to Family. I really enjoyed how the showed the relationships the ladies went through. I like how honest chilli was with her story in this movie. I was surprised at how little LA Reid played in this movie. Carl Payne didn't really have too many lines in this film, I would have expected more since he was part of the bigger picture. I would have thought they would have also included Babyface. Overall it's a solid movie that anyone watching will enjoy.

The TLC story was a perfect made to T.V movie. I think I was more excited about this movie than my girlfriend. We both were hanging around and waiting for the movie to premier. I loved TLC growing up just because they were the "It" group at the time breaking all types of barriers. Both guys and girls were into TLC. There Genre was after political hip-hop and right before gangsta rap, so it didn't matter who you were, TLC was a group you wanted to here at the time.The movie was well produced and great story writing. everything we wanted to know about TLC that we didn't know was covered. I enjoyed the way all the characters were portrayed. Lil' momma did an excellent job portraying Lisa (left Eye) Lopes and her extremely charismatic ways. In my opinion it would take someone with real talent who did not have to try to hard to imitate left eye and someone who was not going to underact either. Lil' momma was the ideal actor.Pebbles was portrayed as the antagonist and I think that in order to tell their story precisely, they had to make sure pebbles was portrayed as accurate as possible, despite her allegations of slander.In all, I think this was a fun movie to watch and it hits close to home especially if you grew up right around the time they were blowing up in the music industry. They told their story without going overboard and sharing the most important highlights of their life and turning points. I think Lisa (left eye) lopes would be proud.