‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ Review: The Whitney Museum
High-grade showbiz cheese, "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody" genuinely entertains but feels only faintly authentic
The Whitney Elizabeth Houston we get to know in the estate-approved biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (★★☆☆☆) lives in a very tight bubble. There’s hardly anyone in there with her — at various times, her mother and mentor, Cissy, and her father and manager, John.
Then, of course, her main backer and benefactor, Clive Davis — the legendary then-head of Arista Records who signed the once-in-a-lifetime talent to her first record deal in 1983 — enters the picture and never leaves her side.
The control and influence that Clive (Stanley Tucci), Cissy (Tamara Tunie), and John (Clarke Peters) wield over Whitney’s life and career keep her circle tight as she rises from singing solos in her East Orange, New Jersey church choir to becoming “America’s Pop Princess.”
But Whitney, embodied here with fire and music by British actress Naomi Ackie, doesn’t want to be anybody’s princess. She doesn’t want to just sing pop, or R&B, or gospel — she wants to sing whichever “great, big songs” she pleases. She doesn’t want to always wear dresses, and smile pretty, or hide the fact that she’s attracted to women. Whitney just wants to be Whitney.
To that point, Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal made the insightful, unauthorized posthumous documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me. Whitney even utters that exact line in this film, which does allow her to be herself, up to an estate-approved limit.
Years before stardom, she and Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams) meet-cute and quickly embark on a lesbian romance, eventually moving in together. As Whitney, known to her family as Nippy, rockets to fame and fortune, she clings to Robyn for stability and support, which Robyn provides unconditionally.
As depicted by director Kasi Lemmons (Harriet) and screenwriter Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody), Robyn doesn’t offer much else of value to the team in the views of Whitney whisperers Clive, Cissy, and John. Whitney’s dad in particular is portrayed as working hardest to snuff out the couple’s romantic flame.
By the time Whitney meets R&B bad boy Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders) at the Soul Train Music Awards, she’s moved on from Robyn as a lover, but still holds her close as best friend and confidante. Ackie and Williams play out the bittersweet trajectory of their relationship with a warmth and sensitivity that ring true.
The movie, and Ackie’s performance — enhanced by Whitney’s vocals — capture the star’s personality, but what’s her story, what’s the why behind any of this? It can’t just be boiled down to a sequence of landmark events: signing with Arista, hearing her debut single on the radio for the first time, stepping up to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.
The script arranges the moments into an entertaining chronology that still leaves so much of Whitney’s life out of the picture, or just floating around the margins. Those deep, deep Nippy fans looking for the real T can keep looking. The name Ray J never comes up, and neither does Being Bobby Brown, the steaming trainwreck reality series that signaled to the world that, despite her public denials, Whitney Houston had a problem.
It’s Clive Davis who sits Whitney down to tell her it’s time she took her problems to rehab. He also blithely comes out to her, years before he publicly acknowledged that he’s bisexual, in case you’d always wondered whether Whitney knew. Ultimately, in a way, this is Clive Davis’ version of Whitney’s story, authorized by Pat Houston, an executor of Whitney’s estate. Both are executive producers on the film, in which they’re portrayed as unerringly devoted to Whitney and her best interests.
Introduced midway through the film as the girlfriend of Whitney’s brother, Pat (Kris Sidberry) is seen as the last person to enter the star’s tightknit circle, though too late to avert Whitney’s tragic end. The film’s final act drives inexorably towards that bathtub inside her room at the Beverly Hilton.
But, as the film makes clear, and the estate would gladly have you remember, Whitney left us with some great songs, and that Voice. Many will see I Wanna Dance with Somebody just to hear it, and the film’s performance scenes, abetted by picture-perfect styling and excellent sound mixing, don’t disappoint.
From her breathtaking pre-fame performance of “Home” on The Merv Griffin Show, to singing “I Will Always Love You” at the ’94 Concert for a New South Africa, the film unreels some of Whitney’s greatest moments at the mic. In the movie’s quieter moments, some filmmaking flaws creep into view — the sad, thirsty wigs, Chanda Dancy’s intrusive score. But in the spotlight, with the band behind her, and the adoring crowd at her feet, Whitney can do no wrong, and the movie’s right there with her.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is playing at theaters nationwide. Visit www.fandango.com.
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