For fans of true crime, Lance Herndon is an interesting piece not just for facts of the case, but the way his story has been told, reshaped in the years since. You can watch videos that nail the details into his murder but some also plant a heavy tone that it was his own fault. I say this as 'Love & Murder: Atlanta Playboy' continues this trend, but dials up the dramatic cheese to 11. Surface level only verging on trashy reality tv vibes. You can't shake the notion that Taye Diggs is slumming it too.
Two failed marriages and on his third, Lance Herndon (Diggs) can't keep his member in his pants and those in the same rich, affluent circle as him know it. He battles keeping his wife, landing business contracts and breaking off on his own while being his worst enemy. Multiple flings, ladies and in comes Khloe (Nicole Lyn). Spotting her at a party he becomes obsessed, but she rebuffs him for the longest time. After months of gifts, lavishing money & finally getting freaky does he find out she's just as much of a player as him and won't be tossed aside so easily. When he's killed the wheels shift to who did it, why and trial.
Coming from the BET network, I hoped they'd flesh Herndon out and I'd see how he made his money, became successful with finer detail. Very quickly I came to realize this was naive. An opening montage of black ladies showered in glitz, money and glamour flew across my screen told me what I needed to know. Who their main viewing audience was and it was gonna cater to them maximally. The cut to Diggs in front of a green screen and fourth wall breaking solidified this poor omen.
Later comes the side plots about disgruntled business partners, red herrings by the boatload. However it's pointless and silly when you know who killed him. You do get a bunch of sexy times, but alas no nudity means little heat. Title cards for the women in his life, repeated lines about giving up Playboy ways that you know isn't going to happen.
Everything flows smoothly even if it is rather flat and real things are said about how upbringing, parents, divorce, affairs shatter lives. That said the whole thing rates at the maturity level of a soap opera. Rich man screws around with dubious females and ends up getting his just desserts. I never felt like I was seeing the real Lance, the women in his life, a real taste of Atlanta or did I ever feel emotionally invested.
Taking a real life horrific event - murder of someone - isn't anything new in the realm of TV & movies. 'Love & Murder: Atlanta Playboy' chooses naturally to focus on the juicy sexual elements at play, but a semi-comedic tone and some overacting does it no favors. Also hard to ignore victim blaming a dead man. I doubt you'd see this go down if genders were reversed, but c'est la vie. This isn't a slice of true crime nor does this two part tv movie get crazy enough to be really fun.
