REVIEW: ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody’
is the new biopic on the singer’s life. Her history is full of dense material and naturally some things have to be left out for the sake of time, but 2.5 hours isn’t enough to do the story justice. The movie starsThe film starts with Whitney singing in the church choir run by her mother Cissy , who also has a small band she performs with where Whitney sings back up. While chilling in the park listening to music the young singer meets Robyn , a young girl from her neighborhood who she befriends.
The film chronicles her career from the 1980s, through the 1990s, and up to her death. The plot bounces from scene to scene with no follow through, just exposition. For example, Houston wants to get into films, next scene she gets the script forThe Preacher’s Wife?! There is also a problem with scene structure. Details of the past, present and future are crammed into the same scene without attaching meaning to any of it. It makesfeel like a series of vignettes about Houston instead of a complete narrative. There’s no theme, no message, and nothing to keep the audience engaged during the viewing experience.
Naomi Ackie as Houston is the most believable part of the movie. She’s able to smoothly transition through the various eras of Whitney’s life and captures her voice, mannerisms, movements, accurately, although she may not look exactly like her. Stanley Tucci is one of Hollywood’s most talented actors, and yet his role as Davis is fine, just fine because his monotone voice, and static personality keep him restricted. The performance I truly don’t understand is Ashton Sanders as Bobby Brown.
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