Movie critic Bruce Miller says Whitney Houston deserves better than the glossy biography, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
I wanna better movie.
Considering it runs more than two hours, “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” doesn’t answer many questions.
Highly respectful (it was done in conjunction with Houston’s family), the latest musical biography tries to suggest she had pressures that led her to escape into drugs. But Houston was such a hit right out of the gate, it wasn’t like she had to scramble to get into the business. Director Kasi Lemmons dances around a number of issues (Were her parents pushy? Did Bobby Brown have something to do with her ‘dark’ side? Was her bestie Robyn more than just a friendly employee?) without stepping into any of them.
Because Whitney’s mom, Cissy Houston, was a respected singer in her own right, she had access to those who could connect the dots. Coupled with that voice (which later became her nickname – The Voice), Whitney couldn’t lose. Indeed, we get the contract signing, the first songs and the string of hits. And then? There’s a disconnect. Houston (played by Naomi Ackie) decides to chase after Brown (Ashton Sanders) and, well, change. A gap exists in those middle years explaining why she wasn’t happy on top of the charts.
To make the film important, Lemmons gives some of the big hits full production numbers. Ackie looks like she’s hitting the beats but it’s clear Houston is singing. This isn’t so much a biography as it is a replication. Using the American Music Awards as bookends, “Wanna Dance” shows Houston at her greatest hour (or at least what others think was her greatest hour) and slides by those last months and days. If she was hounded by the media (which the film suggests), why the interest? A ghoulish visit to the hotel room where she died doesn’t explain the drugs in her system or the events that preceded the Grammy ceremony that celebrated her life. Using that as the hook might have helped explain why she was one of the most successful female singers of the 20th century.
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“Being Bobby Brown,” a reality series that revealed a different Whitney, isn’t referenced here. Nor is the short life of daughter Bobbi Kristina. Those moments might have revealed a more accurate picture and helped fans understand why she had the end she did.
Instead, this is like a Hallmark movie, tinged with a few suggestive moments that don’t spoil the overall picture.
Thanks to Tamara Tunie’s performance as Cissy, we want to know more about their relationship and why it was important Whitney follow in her footsteps.
More important, Stanley Tucci’s work as mentor Clive Davis starts to get at a key partnership that’s never fully explored. What did Davis do that others couldn’t?
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While Lemmons gets a lot of the details right, she doesn’t get at the heart of Houston. Ackie misses the flirty way she had with an audience. And when we see the big National Anthem performance, we’re more impressed with the flyover than the belt.
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” won’t tarnish Houston’s reputation a bit. But it could prompt plenty of Google searches just to discover what it was that ended her life way too soon.
She danced, all right. But with what?
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