When did Whitney Houston’s biography become public domain? I mean, didn’t we just do this? How much more Whitney tragedy do we need? Have we been saving all our love for her?
I wouldn’t call this biopic necessarily dishonest but … Whitney’s musical producer at Arista records (Stanley Tucci) gets second billing. Do you think Whitney’s Arista contact was the second most important person in her life? That’s kind of a movie in and of itself, right? Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody differed from previous iterations of this tale in two key relationships, the first is the enhanced role of Clive Davis (the Arista guy) in her life; the second is her on/off sexual relationship with her personal assistant, Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams). Oh, Whitney is gay? Or bi-? I guess she did wanna dance with a lot o’ somebodys, huh?
In case you didn’t know (and I didn’t before her death), Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie) had a mother in r&b recording artist Cissy Houston, an aunt in Dionne Warwick, and a godmother Aretha Franklin. And none of those women meant squat to her, apparently. Shame, because every one of them could have given her some good tips on handling fame. While Cissy (Tamara Tunie) doesn’t come off well in the picture, the movie credits her with recognizing a talent scout at her usual gig and pretending to be ill to force Whitney into the spotlight. Whitney begins the show with “Greatest Love of All” which baffled me because why would you start any show anywhere at any time with that number? But it’s Whitney, so five minutes later, she had a record contract.
Most musical biopics will have one big number in which we see the unknown become a known; this will generally serve as the high point of the film, because what’s better than instant fame? Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody didn’t stop there. This film wanted to love Whitney again and again and again constantly touching upon greatest moments of her career. While this strategy was certainly laudable for a Whitney fan, it did little to give us a full picture. For instance, there are scenes of she and future husband Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders) fighting, but not a single one where Bobby is abusive. OK, I guess I could see why you didn’t wish to show that. But this reluctance to delve into anything resembling criticism does Whitney no favors when failing to give a full picture of her drug problem.
Whitney died from her addictions. So giving us exactly 15 seconds of “Whitney is out of control,” then 30 seconds of rehab, and she’s back! is not exactly painting your subject accurately, now is it? I mean, gosh golly, good thing she didn’t really have a problem, huh?
Oh, hey, Whitney had a child. Oh, hey, that child is now a tween. See how out-of-place this paragraph is? That is exactly how it is presented in the film.
I want to talk right now a little about lip-synching. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody has a ton of it and it’s pretty obvious – 1) because the overdubbing isn’t 100% perfect and 2) nobody has a voice like 
Whitney Houston. Technology remains both boon and burden. Any decent music recognition app will be able to identify that the film has offered us nothing in terms of new music or music innovation. In a way, this makes the performances more authentic (i.e. this is exactly what Whitney sounded like during the given performance) and in a greater way, the film has cheated us … a lot. You see, every time “Whitney” sings, it’s a professional recording. This includes backstage and off-the-cuff stuff.
Do you see where I’m going here?
Whitney Houston was an artist. Almost all artistry requires struggle of some kind. So where’s the struggle? Nowhere in the film is this a greater cheat than when Whitney’s musical director presents her with a medley of “I Loves You, Porgy / And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going / I Have Nothing” claiming Whitney is the only singer in the world capable of handling the material. So the scene unfolds with Whitney balking and then, giving into the flattery, attempting it … and my music ID app told me that the voice at the piano at Whitney’s first attempt matched her studio recording of this medley! So you see the problem now, yes? This is a cheat, pure and simple. I don’t need to see Whitney struggle the way other mere mortals do, but getting a studio version while in casual mode within seconds of being introduced to the most difficult medley ever conceived is not only unrealistic, IMHO it actually robs us of the inspirational spark that makes Whitney special.
The Whitney Houston story is one of the great tragedies of our age. Perhaps we can be thankful she recorded so much so well before her addictions gained control. But I don’t think this picture really does justice to her life; it just adds some details that don’t get mentioned very often. These are important details, make no mistake, and anybody that enjoys Whitney’s music should find moments of this film to love, but I think most of this version is damning-by-omission and I don’t see much point in giving us any more Whitney for a while.
♪I’ve been reading the press releases baby
I keep her obit inside my head
Maybe a world of fantasies
Will help restock her cred
I’ve been watching the dailies all right
Why I’m gonna make her good, y’know?
I got a version of her life where
She doesn’t get so strung up on blow
Oh I remember the way that she cried
Gonna make sure nobody sees that side
I get so evasive now, baby
Every time you want the tru-u-uth
I get so evasive now
And it’s shocking what
I won’t tell♫
Rated PG-13, 144 Minutes
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Writer: Anthony McCarten
Genre: Revisiting Whitney … again
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Robyn Crawford
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Homophobes
♪ Parody Inspired by “Emotional”
