Without a doubt, there are few bands featuring women which have done as much as TLC. Perhaps the only others who stand beside, if not a few steps above, would be The Supremes and The Spice Girls when you speak of iconic female groups. But, with it being now over a decade since Left- Eye's death, perhaps with CrazySexyCool is meant to serve as the surviving members of TLC going over their past one more time as they prep us for the future.

Now, most of the time the film does feel balanced. Keke Palmer plays Chilli and gets a few good stories dealing with issues she had with Pebbles, her child's father and showing Chilli's personality; then we have Drew Sidora as T-Boz and we get to see her as sort of the big sister, as well as watch as she goes through the issues which come with Sickle Cell Anemia; and then there is Lil Mama's role as Left-Eye, which often steals the show as she takes on a life which is heartbreaking, dramatic and spirited to the point that knowing she isn't physically with us is heartbreaking.

When it comes to the story the movie starts with the formation of TLC, before Chilli was even part of the group and a girl named Crystal was the C. What happens to her isn't discussed, but what is shown is Chilli coming in and the girls bonding. In fact, most of the movie deals with their sisterhood and how they supported each other through personal hard times, or even when Left-Eye's ego was starting to cause friction. Everything in the movie leads up to what looked like the end for TLC with Left-Eye's death, and then them showing the original members recording their new single "Meant To Be."

To be honest, my expectations were low after seeing what they did to Biggie in Notorious. My expectations were just to hear a few songs I didn't remember and that being the most I got out of this. Surprisingly though, CrazySexyCool in no way tries to just live off the band's name, their music, and your nostalgia, and leave you with something slapped together. Truly it seems like T-Boz and Chilli wanted to get personal with their fans, or at least as much as they could, and reveal stuff that is personal and deep to them. In the film we go over their struggles in music and their personal lives, and not just the well-known drama, but the stuff perhaps only die-hard fans, friends and family may know. Which leads me to mention Lil Mama and how she truly makes you feel like you are witnessing Left-Eye's life during these times. Truly, to me, Lil Mama puts on the type of performance which makes you think she may be thinking of being the next rapper to cross into acting and not look back. That is how good she is. To me, if they mixed archival footage and Lil Mama's performance, the two would seamlessly mix together. You see, as you watch Lil Mama take on Left-Eye's struggles it gets you to the point of being teary eyed and upset that so many of our great artist die so young.

But while I may praise Lil Mama, I must admit she does cast a slight shadow on Palmer and Sidora for they really can't keep up. Sometimes while watching Lil Mama work, it almost makes it seem like Palmer and Sidora may have the hair styles and clothing to be Chilli and T-Boz, but their performances don't match. Be it because Left-Eye had the biggest persona, or the girls' performances, it truly is hard to say. But I did wonder why sometimes they seemed to use Left-Eye more so for drama than anything else. In the film, T-Boz and Chilli, Sidora and Palmer, narrate randomly at times, but such an opportunity isn't given to Left-Eye/Lil Mama. Also, though for the most part all of Lil Mama's raps of Left-Eye are dubbed, they give Palmer the chance to sing despite sounding nothing like Chilli at all.

Overall: Worth Watching In a Power 105.1 interview Chilli stated the reason they went to VH1, and didn't go the theatrical way, was so that this would be played over and over like The Temptations movie and The Jackson 5 movie. Now, as of this moment, I wouldn't put CrazySexyCool in the same category since the music doesn't have as much of a focus as those two films have it. However, with Lil Mama's performance, a familiar brand, and a sense of nostalgia, it is hard to not recommend this movie to watch. For, though I can't foresee if it may perhaps become as classic as the Jackson 5 and Temptations movie, I do think Chilli's decision to bring this to VH1 was definitely a good one.

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 ****

People seem to be very generous towards the rating of this movie due to it being a made for TV movie, but I mean it can't be compared with theatrical releases like "Ray" or "Walk The Line" or even "Notorious" for that matter

It's just a obvious TV production and I expected a little more from it to be honest

I expected Left-Eyes burning down the house and death to have a bigger impact in the movie but it's all fairly rushed and portrayed without much depth

Something that's also lacking depth are the characters, especially the characters around the main characters, now I really like Evan Ross I think he's one of the better young black actors out there BUT I just don't see him playing Dallas Austin, it just doesn't work IMO...

All the boyfriends in their lives feel just like empty shells tbh, they namedrop Mack 10 who was T-Boz's man for a good while and they have a guy play him but I don't recall him even having any lines just standing in the background, and the guys who do have lines as I said don't feel very real

The TLC characters are a little better but they to come across as caricatures more then full-fleshed human beings occasionally

I don't think people who aren't TLC fans will get much out of this movie