‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story’ Review Roundup: Critics Enjoy Nostalgia Trip With 90s’ Biggest Girl Group

CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, VH1’s highly anticipated TLC biopic, premiered on the music network Monday night to mostly positive reviews and sky-high ratings.

Starring Lil Mama as Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, Keke Palmer as Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Drew Didora as Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, the biopic of the music group traces TLC’s meteoric rise in the 90s, as well as the scandals, hardships and money troubles that plagued them. While it’s been said that CrazySexyCool should have focused slightly more on their triumphs and less on their tribulations, the general consensus is that the made-for-TV movie gives an honest and entertaining glimpse into the “No Scrubs” group’s world.

“CrazySexyCool is a not a particularly well-constructed biopic, hopping from moment to moment like moviemaking was just a matter of checking scenes off a list, but it does everything that Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, the two surviving members of TLC, could ask for: It will absolutely convince you that TLC was amazing. As art,CrazySexyCool is middling; as propaganda it is very effective.” – Willa Paskin, Slate

"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." – Jon Caramanica, The New York Times

“[T-Boz and Chilli] produced and, evidently, had a spiritual hand guidingThe TLC Story. Alongside director Charles Stone III they made sure no detail of the movie was overlooked. The TLC live sets are on point and the choreography tight. Screenwriter Kate Lanier, writer of the 1996 cult hit Set It Off, wrote dialogue so lived-in it felt like the movie’s actresses were improvising. The “Creep” video-shoot scene, with its members bickering about creative direction, features a spirited back and forth among the three actresses.” – Paul de Revere, Radio.com.

When CrazySexyCool premiered on VH1 on Monday, it drew 4.5 million viewers – making it the best-rated telecast for VH1 in over 5 years. The biopic will air next on the network Sunday, Oct. 27 at 9/8c.

– Chelsea Regan

Get Uinterview's FREE iPhone App For Daily News Updates here.

Get the FREE Uinterview iPad app here and watch our videos anywhere.