I Wanna Dance with Somebody

For those of us who grew up listening to Whitney Houston as her story was splashed across the news and into our lives as it happened, there is nothing new here. We would have been better served if the filmmakers just did a documentary with the real Whitney Houston spliced into it here and there, as I didn't find the actress believable in the role. She may have studied her mannerisms etc. But it didn't work. Whitney was a very good looking woman, who could sing, she had style (or her stylist had) but she carried it off. Usually with Biopics you forget that its an actor playing a part but this didn't happen and it was distracting. Save yourself the time and just watch the real Whitney in a few videos on YouTube.

I was astonished at the simplicity and pure lack of creativity and imagination with this made for TV movie. It literally goes from A to B, copying and pasting all the way. Nothing unique to see here.

All good bio pics don't dare tell the whole story. It is just too difficult to make something great when you have so much to say. So they find the magic within. That micro story. And they make magic out of that. This film couldn't be bothered with that. So just painted by numbers, doing a very formulaic blah blah of nothingness.

Whitney was an amazing artist. One who deserved only the best. But all she got was a low rated TV Movie. A really tragic story.

That said, the actress did act. She was very good. I just wish they had done the right thing and given her someone who could have found her true magic with an intelligent story and more creative direction.

This is definitely a must watch for fans. Filled with nostalgia and emotions. I teared up throughout the movie. They used Whitney's voice for the singing scenes which got me So Emotional. Pun intended!

While it's obvious she doesn't look like Whitney, Naomi did an amazing job. She nailed Whitney's mannerisms and body language. The actor playing Clive Davis was spot on as well. What made the movie come to life were the styling, outfits, makeup, and hair. The music video sets were all spot on. All the staff who worked on them deserve awards.

I've seen the biopics, documentaries, and interviews. I've read the books written by Cissy, Bobby, Narada, and Robyn. Some of the information presented in the movie seemed inaccurate and were purposely left out (ex: no mention of Eddie Murphy). For instance, it's publicly known that it was Kevin Costner and not Clive who asked Whitney to sing "I Will Always Love You".

I was disappointed by the portrayals of John Houston and Robyn Crawford. The movie portrayed John as an aggressive father who only cares about making and spending money off of her daughter. There's some truth to this. But according to Robyn's book, John was gentle and genuinely cared about Whitney's well-being. The movie only painted John as the greedy one. But real fans know John wasn't the only one.

As for Robyn, the movie portrayed her as someone totally opposite of who she really is. Real fans know that Robyn is soft-spoken, calm, and someone who genuinely cared about Whitney.

I was not happy they portrayed Whitney aloof ignoring fans when fans asked her for an autograph/photograph. I'm not saying that hasn't happened before. But there have been countless times on camera showing that she was happy to meet fans.

There was no mention of Whitney's personal assistant and close confidant, Sylvia. At the very least they could've had an extra with no lines putting a towel over Whitney (which Sylvia did during the world tours).

There was little mention of things that really mattered to Whitney such as her faith, the community, and causes. I wish they focused on that more.

Don't expect the movie to reveal things that aren't already known to the public. The movie doesn't go deep into details.

Critics say there should've been more focus on her struggles and what's not known. I disagree because the world already knows too much. She did not like her personal life being all out there. Most of all, she wanted to be remembered for her music. The movie respected that by presenting what's already known (all the ups and the downs), and by raising her legacy and achievements which were once heavily overshadowed by her struggles.

I like a biopic as much as the next person. But when one creates a biopic, they have to show a different side to the person we know behind the celebrity, or something the average person doesn't really know up until this point.

This film ain't one of them.

The film takes up way too much of its runtime showing Whitney's iconic performances in their total. Which not many music biopics do and for good reason; we can just watch them elsewhere.

It also doesn't focus in too much on her personal life. The domestic and drug abuse between her and Bobbi was toned down, her relationship with Robyn, arguably the best moments in the film, are fleeting, and the film is way too nice to Clive Davis (not surprising since he executive produced the film) who was like her family, but also like her family, tried to mould her into something she was not.

It's clear that to this day, people still want to control Whitney's legacy. So as a result, the film cannot explore the complexities, flaws, turmoils and difficulties of this incredibly talented woman. Because there is no doubt, she was a one of a kind phenomenal singer.

But the film is not interested in going further into her inner emotional life - only scratching the surface and emphasising her talent.

I would suggest watching the Kevin MacDonald documentary, which focuses more on why Whitney ended her life the way she did and the clues to her inner turmoil, while also listing her contributions to the music world and the things she loved the most in life.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody is a bit hit and miss for me.

The big hit is Naomi Ackie's performance. I was completely transported and absorbed by her portrayal of Whitney, and thought she handled the role perfectly. Obviously the music was always going to be great so that's another real point in this film's favour.

The miss for me comes in the form of the structure and storytelling. There is always a balance to strike in a musical biopic between how much you focus on the music and how much you focus on the person. For me this film got this balance wrong and spent too long showing full performances of Whitney and showing off her voice. We know she had an incredible voice, and as great as it is to hear it over and over, I would have liked to dig down into the woman herself even more.

When we dig down into her personal life, her relationship with Bobby Brown, her relationship with her mother and father, her treatment by the press and her drug issues, everything felt very surface level. Particularly the latter two.

I appreciate that the film perhaps didn't want to tread too heavily down these dark avenues which is entirely reasonable, but it does mean the film lacks punch at times. As a result the highs are never particularly high and the lows are never too low which diminishes the impact of the film.

I did also think that the film was a tad too long and could have been trimmed by 10 minutes at least.

Considering there are so many musical biopics these days I can't help but compare this film to others that have hit the screens in recent years such as Elvis, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, and this is easily lagging behind in this pack. Still, it boasts a terrific performance from Ackie, a great soundtrack, and several powerful moments. However as a whole the film does feel rather muted.