Biopics can go one of two ways: they can play out like the dreadful Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story, or they can be quite entertaining, like the Oliver Stone fantasy piece The Doors, which had Val Kilmer in snakeskin boots going all Stormtrooper on his girlfriend’s cooked duck, declaring “I’m still killing your fucking duck! There! Murder! Death! Duck! Dead! Death fucking dead! There, the duck is dead!”
It’s looking like the red light special VH1 production dubbed CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story is going to be held in the ranks of the latter if the just released trailer is any indication. To say that the actresses playing the trio look like T-Boz, Chilli, and Left Eye is a borderline disservice to the word doppelgänger. Aspiring rapper Lil Mama as Lisa Lopes takes the cake in a way that would take Georgia off the mind of Ray Charles’ replicant Jamie Foxx. And Lil Mama’s role is more than a screen-grab — she’s also joining the real TLC on stage this weekend at the Mixtape Festival in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Due to drop October 22, The TLC Story might be a case of the fake people, but it’s looking pretty solid. How strong does it appear? Possibly enough to have the Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli revisit his unadorned love for the trio.