Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

With all the negative press about the movie, I was certainly not expecting a film like CrazySexyCool. However, I was hoping it would perhaps at least be like Jimi: All Is By My Side and be a neutered film which at least got the casting right. Though, with Zendaya leaving, and being replaced by the unknown Alexandra Shipp, that idea flew out the window. Leaving the question: Is this movie worth seeing at all?Characters & StoryThe movie covers the time period from Aaliyah (Alexandra Shipp) being on Star Search to before she went to shoot the "Rock The Boat" video. So in the film you will see her relationship with R. Kelly (Clé Bennett), her meeting Missy Elliott (Chattrisee Dolabaille) and Timbaland (Izaak Smith), to her becoming a film star, and then her meeting Damon Dash (Anthony Grant). PraiseDespite the slew of issues the film has, I must admit it did leave me with a strong sense of nostalgia. For seeing Shipp dress up as Aaliyah really does lead you to want to watch one of her old videos, see one of her old movies, and just sort of imagine where she might have been if she were alive. Those depressing thoughts aside, perhaps one of the best things about this film is that there wasn't much romanticizing what happened between R. Kelly and Aaliyah. For, the way I see it anyway, he does come off as a predator in the film who is using his fame, and name, in order to woo a child who sees him as the man capable of making all her dreams come true. Outside of that, I was glad a handful of Aaliyah songs, which were covers, made it into the film. Such as "At Your Best."CriticismI'm not going to go as far as most people did when it comes to this movie, if just because I knew from the get-go it wasn't going to be a definitive biopic. With that said, perhaps the main issue I had with this film is that because the movie didn't secure Aaliyah's music rights, it meant more dialog. Of which, the more you hear Shipp talk, it takes away from her trying to emulate Aaliyah and makes it so she is just playing dress up. For Aaliyah has this sort of mystery to her, and swag, which Shipp doesn't have. Shipp has the appeal and look of a girl next door who plays the love interest, not a star. So while she may have the clothes, and has her hair styled like Aaliyah, neither her acting, singing, nor persona, make you forget you are watching an actress imitate the Aaliyah they saw on TV.Which is another issue for this film. It is like someone listened to a handful of Aaliyah interviews and then crafted a character based on how they perceived her. Meaning, nothing in the film makes you feel privy of what Aaliyah was like behind the scenes. If anything, it is like a groupie is telling you the story and embellishing when needed.Overall: Skip ItHonestly, the film was doomed from the start. Lifetime isn't the type of station which seems to give a damn about anything but money and ratings. So without the family support or music, the film ends up focusing on too much dialog and thus makes the film tedious. Add on the casting choices and then it leads you to believe that Lifetime just didn't want to waste whatever money they put into the production, hence this product. Though perhaps the main reason why this film is being labeled "Skip It" is that it neither provides the insight CrazySexyCool did nor, at the very least, have a talented lead who seems deserving of being the iconic figure which is Aaliyah.

I was very impressed by the star quality of the star of this film Alexandra Shipp. Although the film was just fair to average. Alexandra charisma shone like a bright star and it is because of her brilliance that I gave this film nine stars. I did not know too much about the real Aaliyah or Alexandra Shipp before seeing this film. But I must say that I was blown away by Alexandra's warm personality and her gifted singing. When I saw her singing in the studio scene, I just loved her voice, it has such soulful heart. She has the voice and appearance of a beautiful angel. Like Aaliyah Alexandra Shipp should be known be her just her first name Alexandra. Her name derived from Alexander the Great. Alexandra has greatness of her own!!

Now I am not a big fan of Aaliyah, and I absolutely feel She does not deserve the title "Princess of R&B" under any circumstances, that is just blowing up Her legacy more than it should be, there were by far much more relevant, talented, and original artists with better voice range, but this movie was just sad. From the beginning it is weak in so many areas, the lip singing of Young, teenage, and adult Aaliyah was just off, and it sounded like something You would here at a child's birthday party, not a professional soundtrack.A major problem with the film was the casting, Alexandra ship is a subpar actress at best along with the rest of the cast, and did not have a strong enough performance to be a main character, and carry the movie. The supporting cast had acting below the level of a middle school play, they rushed their lines, and did not become the Characters, none of them dug deep or tried to take on that person. Alexandra's sad attempts to imitate the way Aaliyah moved and talked just made Me feel sorry for the poor girl, who told Her She could act?! The singing and dancing as I mentioned before, is truly pathetic. When "Aaliyah" danced on stage with Her back up crew the routines were off, and She (Alexandra) looked liked a wild chicken, She had no sense of rhythm or coolness whatsoever.The script in this film was obviously done by a...I will just say it, moron. The way Aaliyah's teen years and relationship She had with Her family were all wrong. Aaliyah was said to have respected what her parents said, and was very close with Her brother Rashad. Instead in the movie She disrespects Her parents when they force Her to divorce R. Kelly, who She was supposedly illegally married to for a short time at the age of only 15. She spends most of the movie being upset with Her Father, and seems to be distance from Her brother, rarely interacting with Him. Along with all of these flaws, the chemistry was all wrong with the actors, it never clicked, or fit, they did not convince Me that they were a real family, instead I got the impression these stale People had been pushed together on screen suddenly and were merely reading meaningless lines off of a page.One of the major issues with the film is that it never shows the highlights of Aaliyah's career, such as winning an award for Her 2000 song "Try again" written by Timbaland. It does not show the filming of two of Her films, the makings of some of Her biggest hits, or how much it really meant to Her. The film just seemed to skim by it like it was no big deal, only bringing some of these things up for a few seconds.Another thing was the pacing and spacing between events, I would have liked to see more of Aaliyah's childhood, and what inspired Her to become a performer in the first place, along with the rise to fame, it did not just happen over night, there was a lot more to it. I fail to see how this film got such high ratings as far as T.V movie listings, the way I see it, this film was plain poor.The fact is, not effort was put into this film period. It may have been better had the Family given permission for the Film to be made in the first place, then the creators would have been able to use Aaliyah's songs.This movie does not deserve a rating, and my heart goes out to the Family, it is sad that their late Aaliyah's name is even tied to this atrocious abomination.As I said, I am not a fan of Aaliyah, but She deserves better than what was given. Do not waste Your time on this movie, it is not worth watching.

I had to rewrite this review because I wasn't allowed to use all caps to express how furious I am about this biopic Lifetime movie of Aaliyah. This movie gets ONE star. If I could give it a zero, I would. The Biopic was poorly executed. The casts had me so confused. Alexandra Shipp acting was a joke. *sigh* I didn't know Missy Elliot was biracial; didn't know Timbaland was Puerto Rican, and R. Kelly, didn't know he was from Nigeria. No. I'm not being racist, because I am a black woman but you would think the cast would have some similarities with the actual artists. I know the beautiful Aaliyah just looking down from Heaven and wondering why they would do this...they only focused on her romantic life than her music. Terrible! I usually don't write reviews at all but I felt it was only right for me to do so and give you guys my honest opinion about this biopic. Don't waste an 1 1/2 of your life watching this movie that you can't get back. I'd rather for you to watch paint dry than to sit through this mess of a movie. Please!!! I beg! Don't watch it. You will be highly disappointed!! LOL!!! I've warned you!!!