Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
It’s not right, but it’s OK.
Naomi Ackie and Nafessa Williams make beautiful music in Kasi Lemmons' Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.
From the moment Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie) opens her mouth in Sweetwater’s Club, music producer Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci) knew he had found the voice of a generation. With a powerful voice with an impressive range, movie star looks, and a natural stage presence, Whitney stood out no matter where she went. She wanted to sing. She wanted to be accepted. She wanted to be happy.
Arguably, she only got one of those things.
Under the wing of Davis, Houston’s career flourished. But success wasn’t enough. No matter what Houston achieved in her life, she couldn’t seem to please everyone around her. She was criticized for being a sellout. Her father would tell her she wasn’t working hard enough while taking her money. She couldn’t even date the people she wanted to.
It’s a familiar tale of a star burning bright before being snuffed out too soon, but it’s no less tragic every time we hear it.
When going to see a biopic, it’s always useful to check who the producers are. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is produced by Davis and Pat Houston, who took over managing Whitney’s career (and estate) after John Houston was fired by Whitney. It’s not too surprising, then, that both Davis and Pat come off looking like angels in this tragic tale. Though it’s easy to spot their fingerprints obviously manipulating the script, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody has bigger problems than bias.
First, it’s never a good sign when the man behind the script is the man behind some of the most mawkish, uninspired biopics of the decade. Anthony McCarten, the scribe behind such drivel as Bohemian Rhapsody, Darkest Hour, and The Theory of Everything, approaches his subject matter like tragic saints. The result every time feels like a seventh-grade book report, with the years and events listed, but no real sense of who that person was. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody suffers from the same issue. We rarely see Houston as anything other than the victim of the world around her. It feels condescending, Whitney was a complicated woman and didn’t deserve such a simplistic take.
Director Kasi Lemmons seems overwhelmed by the scope of the script. She’s rushing through big event after big event, which doesn’t give the viewer or the film time to really sit with who Whitney was or what drove her. Instead of focusing on a pivotal moment in her career, the film meanders through the highs, skips over most of the lows, and still feels like a breathless recap of Whitney’s life instead of a sharp observation of the woman she was.
Lemmons seems to understand Whitney’s exhaustion, how she attempted to be everything to everyone around her, but almost pathologically skips over how low this need to please brought her. Though it’s clear that Whitney always dreamed of a family and a child, we get shockingly little time with that family. Her daughter is essentially a background device, and we never really examine the environment she was raised in. Elton John famously quipped that Rocketman producers “wanted to tone down the sex and drugs. But I haven’t led a PG-13 life”. Whitney Houston also didn’t lead the PG-13 life this movie wants to pretend she did. While I appreciate Lemmons’ tact in holding back from lurid looks at Houston in the throws of addiction, this less-is-more approach makes Davis sitting her down to discuss rehab seem almost out of the blue.
Though Lemmons is forced to gloss over a great deal of Houston’s biography — notably the traumatic events of her childhood are missing — she does honor one part of Whitney’s life that was rarely seen. Lemmons takes a look at arguably the happiest relationship of Houston’s life: a romantic relationship with Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams). Pressure from Houston’s father and Whitney’s incredibly religious upbringing ultimately fractured the romantic side of the relationship, but Robyn remained one of the few people Whitney could trust.
Aside from the relationship with Robyn, the movie is best in the quiet moments. Though Lemmons and her team do a great job of recreating Houston’s iconic performances, there’s always something lacking. Houston was such a naturally powerful performer, there was very little she did other than walk on stage and be Whitney. Ackie might have the right outfits on, but she just doesn’t have the same stage presence. She fares better in her scenes with Tucci, as the two lay around his room, listening to demos and giggling about what Houston could do to improve the song. It’s in these moments that Lemmons captures what made Whitney so special as an artist.
But even with all the flaws of cliché writing and meandering direction, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody does offer a bit of Houston’s magic. Unlike other biopics that can seem to drag, this film offers up hit after hit — reminding you exactly why Whitney Houston is one of the greatest singers to ever live. The movie uses Houston’s voice for most of the tracks (Ackie, who has a lovely voice, sings a few of the a cappella bits), and hearing that beautiful instrument is enough to power you through two-plus hours of by-the-numbers biopic. You’ll be bopping in your seat and getting goosebumps when Whitney opens up her register for the powerful notes.
Even a bad script can’t keep Whitney Houston from being an absolute star. And listening to two hours of Whitney Houston hits will never be a waste of time.
Verdict: If you’re a fan of the music, you’ll likely be entertained by the beauty of Whitney’s voice, but don’t go in expecting to gain any insight into who she was as a person.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody is rated PG-13 and available in theaters Dec. 23.
