It’s not as compelling as the VH-1 Behind the Music from so many years ago, but this fictionalized version is still a story that seems impossible yet true. These guys were canceled before we used that word in this context.
Titled after their biggest hit, and they had several, Girl You Know It’s True follows the true story of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, who conquered global music charts as the pop duo “Milli Vanilli.” A German and a Frenchman who were superior dancers but couldn’t sing a note.
The German music impresario, Frank Farian (Matthias Schweighöfer) building on their charisma and good looks, assembled studio musicians to sing and play, and put Rob and Fab out in the world to lip-sync to the recordings. It worked for a while – it worked all over the world and culminated in the duo winning Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards in 1990.
Much of the film is typical showbiz bio stuff: the guys are hungry, naïve, and have stars in their eyes. Then when they make it, they become entitled jerks. Fighting ensues, etc., etc., etc. And when it was finally exposed that the two were frauds, the hammer came down har5d and fast.
The inevitable third act follows the personal fall out of the guys who flew too close to the sun and fell to their career doom.
The actors, Tijan Njie as Rob and Elan Ben Ali as Fabrice, look strikingly similar to their real-life counterparts, but their acting is a bit too wide-eyed and overcooked. If you don’t know or don’t remember the story, you’ll find the plot worth following, but those who already know won’t learn anything new from this German production (in English) that was something of a hit in its home country last year.
Girl You Know its True | Rated R | In Theaters August 9th
