I give this TV movie 5 out of 5 stars, but not for the reason you think. Read below...
I am sure Lexi Scott Davis is a lovely young woman, but acting like Toni is not the role that will define her plus Toni is about 5'1 ft tall and Lex is a good 5'5-5'6 and it's noticeable. The whole point of my own Toni obsession is she's this tiny woman with a HUGE singing voice; so I was distracted by Lex's height. Gavin Houston as Babyface, Andre Hall as Keri Lewis very good acting/physical choices but the standout Emmy Winner for me is Debbi Morgan as Toni's mom Evelyn. WOW and I mean WOW! Watching Debbi's performance alone was worth staying up till 2am watching the second showing.
The real crux of my 5 star review is it answered SO MANY questions about Toni and her life. Lupus, marriage with Keri, and the bankruptcies. BOTH of them. She had a 10 year gag order that she couldn't talk about how she did declare bankruptcy but was awarded $22million because the record company WAS at fault; it wasn't Toni being a spending diva. And how they stripped her of her Grammys TWICE. And then how she had to declare bankruptcy a second time because her insurance company in Vegas never wrote in her Lupus and she was FORCED to cancel her Vegas residency. I legit broke inside finding out these things and how I judged without knowing the real story. But mostly how Toni's named was dragged through the mud for TEN YEARS and joked about, and laughed at, and yet she couldn't say one word.
I have all of Toni's albums. I will always be a Toni fan, broke or not. But hers is a cautionary tale to always watch out for yourself, famous or not.
My only question is her brother Michael was in a few scenes in the beginning but then his whereabouts was never explained as he vanished. I thought he passed, and I missed that scene. I also wish they explained why Toni as an artist NOT a writer/producer received royalties as an Artist. I don't have a good understanding about the music industry and I feel they explained ALOT of other things, except that.