Larenz Tate stars as Frankie Lymon, who was 13 when he had a giant hit with the titular song, and was 25 when he died after about a decade of drug abuse. In the mid 80's, Vivica Fox appears claiming to be his widow and demanding royalty payments from record executive Paul Mazursky. Halle Berry and Lela Rochon turn up also claiming to have been married to Lymon and the matter goes to court.
This is a potentially interesting story turned into a pretty terrible film. There are several ways you could tell this story, and the script seems to try all of them, but none successfully. Most of the story is told in flashback as characters testify in court (which lawyer is questioning which witness seems completely random), but sometimes not ... and some story related in "testimony" clearly has nothing to do with the trial.
All the leads do okay, but with characters that are so undefined they struggle to make much out of them. Lymon's story is told only through the perspectives of his brides, and it jumps around so much, you really get no picture of who he was. He's successful and talented and then not and then a drug addict and a loving husband and then a thief and a wife beater. It's very hard to care about this cypher that seems to only have Tate's charm going for him. The three women end up having less personality, so by the time it's over, you realize you just don't care who wins.
This is a potentially interesting story turned into a pretty terrible film. There are several ways you could tell this story, and the script seems to try all of them, but none successfully. Most of the story is told in flashback as characters testify in court (which lawyer is questioning which witness seems completely random), but sometimes not ... and some story related in "testimony" clearly has nothing to do with the trial.
All the leads do okay, but with characters that are so undefined they struggle to make much out of them. Lymon's story is told only through the perspectives of his brides, and it jumps around so much, you really get no picture of who he was. He's successful and talented and then not and then a drug addict and a loving husband and then a thief and a wife beater. It's very hard to care about this cypher that seems to only have Tate's charm going for him. The three women end up having less personality, so by the time it's over, you realize you just don't care who wins.