The New Edition Story

All of the cast (Keith Powers as Ronnie DeVoe, Algee Smith as Ralph Tresvant, Luke James as Johnny Gill and Woody McClain as Bobby Brown) attacks their roles with glee and swagger, especially the kids who play the younger versions of the band.

The best reason to watch, however, is the music and the group’s on-stage performance. Whether or not you were a boy band fan in the 1980s, this is top-quality stuff.

Even as it stretches toward the six-hour mark, the film maintains a crisp forward momentum.

A vibrant, fiercely committed three-night mini-series.

The New Edition Story tells the story with verve and charm, meticulously re-creating videos and photo shoots and, more notably, creating rootable characters out of already-familiar stars.

It proves to be a rare retrospective, one that’s both unvarnished and hazily nostalgic, and is as good an entry point as any for those interested in an(other) East Coast fling.

New Edition paved the way for New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men and *NSYNC. At the very least, this miniseries will get a new generation of fans grooving to their timeless music.

As good as the cast is, the music is even better, with many of the group’s most memorable hits, such as “Mr. Telephone Man,” “Candy Girl” and, most of all, “Can You Stand the Rain” are celebrated in exquisitely choreographed and costumed performances.

Clumsy writing and poor pacing get in the way of an inherently compelling origin story that involves everything from bad managers to backstage gunplay. On the plus side, the two sets of actors playing New Edition as kids and adults--including Empire‘s Bryshere Y. Gray as Michael Bivins--are charming and fully capable of fancy footwork and smooth vocals.