Even with surface-level writing and a refusal to ask the intense questions, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody remains to be a moderately fulfilling watch
“Who’s the bodyguard?
‘Kevin Costner’”
Those who know me will know that I used to be gutted that Mr Costner didn’t get to play a component in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, I used to be trying ahead to somebody embodying peak-era Kevin however we needed to make do with the briefest of flashes of the person himself. Which is considerably symptomatic of the movie as an entire, a surface-level rattling by the life and demise of this iconic pop celebrity.
Biopics are notoriously tough to get proper and the job is made trickier when the strains between topic and producers get blurred. This movie was sanctioned by Houston’s household, with sister-in-law Pat Houston getting a producing credit score as does famous music exec Clive Davis, so you may guess what sort of portrayal he will get. I imply, it’s one factor to be a visionary file producer however to have your self depicted so is one thing else….
In phrases of Whitney herself, screenwriter Anthony McCarten and director Kasi Lemmons begin off promisingly by not ducking the reality of her relationship with Robyn Crawford, her good friend, lover and long-time assistant. But the tempo at which the movie races by her life, and the extent of element with which it chooses to have interaction, signifies that there’s little that’s substantive right here. Literally, you can blink and miss her having a child.
In some methods, many of the movie taking part in out like a montage isn’t too unhealthy, particularly should you’re a fan. Her songs have been a big a part of the sound of my childhood and it’s a pleasure to see them carried out through lip-sync by Naomi Ackie along with her heat interpretation. The option to have virtually something detrimental reported on moderately than proven feels extremely disingenous although – the depths of dependancy, the vocal decline and wrecked concert events, the Bobby Brown of all of it, none of it explored or examined.
It wouldn’t be fairly so unhealthy if we didn’t know the place Whitney’s story ends (significantly, the variety of pictures of faucets…!). Pretending that the narrative isn’t bending in that darkish path serves no-one properly and while not fairly dishonest, it provides to the candy-floss lightness of the movie as an entire. Tamara Tunie and Clarke Peters add worth as her strong-minded dad and mom while Stanley Tucci can’t fairly swerve the hagiography of Clive Davis and even when I wished extra, I nonetheless loved this for what it was.