Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston in I Want to Dance with Somebody.Emily Aragones/Sony Pictures
- Whitney Houston: I Want to Dance with Somebody
- Directed by Kasi Lemmons
- Written by Anthony McCarten
- Starring Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci and Ashton Sanders
- Classification PG; 146 minutes
- Opens in theatres Dec. 23
Whitney Houston was a singular, magnificent talent – a powerhouse vocalist and one of the most successful musical artists of all time. Since her tragic death at just 48 in 2012, Houston’s life and legacy have been ripe for a juicy, dynamic big-screen portrayal. Unfortunately, the watery new biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody is not the film to do her, or her legions of fans, justice.
Written by seasoned biopic screenwriter Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody, The Theory of Everything) and directed by Kasi Lemmons, the new film feels more like watching a rote checklist of obligatory life events rather than engaging with a film that truly appreciates and understands Houston’s legacy.
The drama begins by tracing Houston’s (Naomi Ackie) origins, with early scenes showing her as a gospel singer with her mother Cissy (Tamara Tunie) at the local church, where it is immediately clear that Whitney’s talent is something special. From there, Whitney gets “discovered” by legendary music executive Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci). We then see her career instantly skyrocket, and are treated to scenes of Whitney’s life with no real explanation or understanding of Whitney herself.
For those unfortunately familiar with the by-the-numbers Bohemian Rhapsody, it is clear that McCarten loves to write a scene where we get to see how a hit song magically comes to life. Over and over, we watch as Whitney and Clive listen to demos and decide whether or not they are good enough. At one point, on the selection of I Wanna Dance With Somebody as a single, Clive asks Whitney why she likes the track and she simply replies with, “It’s about wanting to dance with somebody.” Okay!
Almost every snippet we see of Whitney’s life here is a response to something occurring in a previous scene, as if her life was a series of handy coincidences.Emily Aragones/Sony Pictures
Almost every snippet we see of Whitney’s life here is a response to something occurring in a previous scene, as if her life was a series of handy coincidences. We watch as she meets her future husband, Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders) at the Soul Train Awards – right after a scene where a radio host asks Whitney to respond to criticisms that she and her music are “too white.” The script jumps to random parts of Whitney’s life while not seeing her journey and struggles as a whole. At one point, Clive presents her with a script to 1992′s The Bodyguard because Whitney expresses wanting to star in a movie. We watch her accept the role (because Kevin Costner asked for her specifically) but there’s no other mention of the film’s success, its cultural impact, or even of Whitney’s subsequent film career (she later starred in Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher’s Wife). Despite the film’s bloated length, we simply never get enough time with one single event to understand how Whitney’s mind worked or why she made certain decisions. There is almost nothing new to learn about her life.
But while the content of the film is flat, Ackie truly shines as Whitney throughout the various stages of her career, and manages to bring the star’s energy and charisma to life. Despite weak material, Ackie shows us a glimpse of what made Whitney Houston truly special, beyond just possessing “the Voice” – she was charming and sharp, and knew she had a duty to share her gift with the world. If only the rest of the film was able to understand or reflect that.
Special to The Globe and Mail
Plan your screen time with the weekly What to Watch newsletter. Sign up today.