This Whitney Houston biopic wants to have it's cake and eat it by touching on the drama of the singers life while maintaining an upbeat movie so fans can enjoy those pop and R&B songs she was most famous for during the 80's and 90's, so what we end up with is a sanitised version of her life and career but for me this was enough. I love her music and with only 11 years since her passing I was pleased it was presented this way.
The real triumph here is the casting of British actress Naomi Ackie as Whitney who does a great job in capturing the essence of this global star, discovered and masterminded by record producer Clive Davis, with Stanley Tucci nicely cast as the mild mannered executive, who serves as one of the Producers on this movie. It's Ackie though who really delivers in portraying both her personal life and her public performances with conviction and authenticity despite a majority of the time being dubbed by the late singers vocals because let's face it who can emulate Whitney Houston's voice, her strength and power in her vocals were unique and that was what made her the phenomenon she became.
Director Kasi Lemmons doesn't want to delve too deep into the complications of her troubled life to undermine the feel good factor of the stage performances and catchy pop songs, so the drama is only touched upon with having a lesbian lover, having to reinvent herself for a public image, being accused of selling out to a white audience, her tumultuous relationship with R&B star Bobby Brown, the birth of her daughter and her ultimate personal decline.
Caught between a biopic drama and a jukebox musical then I Wanna Dance with Somebody will divide audiences but I really enjoyed it despite not gaining much more of an insight into her life than I already knew through the press and media. If you are a fan of the music see it for Ackie's uncanny performance as she recreates those memorable moments in Whitney's career, from making the music video of How Will I Know, her acting stint alongside Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard (1992) to her version of singing the Star Spangled Banner at the American Superbowl, all of these moments are hit and ticked off the list at a rapid rate.
The real triumph here is the casting of British actress Naomi Ackie as Whitney who does a great job in capturing the essence of this global star, discovered and masterminded by record producer Clive Davis, with Stanley Tucci nicely cast as the mild mannered executive, who serves as one of the Producers on this movie. It's Ackie though who really delivers in portraying both her personal life and her public performances with conviction and authenticity despite a majority of the time being dubbed by the late singers vocals because let's face it who can emulate Whitney Houston's voice, her strength and power in her vocals were unique and that was what made her the phenomenon she became.
Director Kasi Lemmons doesn't want to delve too deep into the complications of her troubled life to undermine the feel good factor of the stage performances and catchy pop songs, so the drama is only touched upon with having a lesbian lover, having to reinvent herself for a public image, being accused of selling out to a white audience, her tumultuous relationship with R&B star Bobby Brown, the birth of her daughter and her ultimate personal decline.
Caught between a biopic drama and a jukebox musical then I Wanna Dance with Somebody will divide audiences but I really enjoyed it despite not gaining much more of an insight into her life than I already knew through the press and media. If you are a fan of the music see it for Ackie's uncanny performance as she recreates those memorable moments in Whitney's career, from making the music video of How Will I Know, her acting stint alongside Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard (1992) to her version of singing the Star Spangled Banner at the American Superbowl, all of these moments are hit and ticked off the list at a rapid rate.