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| Images courtesy TriStar Pictures |
The end of the year sees a new musical biopic about the stunning rise to fame and fall from grace of the legendary pop and R&B singer, Whitney Houston.
The film which chronicles her early years through her meteoric rise as "The Voice" of a generation is a highly dramatized film based on her life, her loves, and the untimely death after her doomed marriage to the problematic drug addled Bobby Brown. While the film is not going to win any awards this coming season, it's a portal in to the way she lived her life by her own rules and eventually faltered under her dependencies.
Naomi Ackie (Star Wars:The Rise of Skywalker) looks nothing like Houston but captures her mannerisms and stage presentation to a tee. In her first major breakthrough performance as a lead player, she'll resonate with Whitney's audience as she really does a phenomenal job playing the real life singer. And her ability to recreate Houston's live performances with such realism is a definite highlight of the film. Yet, Stanley Tucci is the scene stealer with I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Casting him as the iconic producer Clive Davis was an absolute stroke of genius. Tucci is the highlight of the film, adding a certain luster to the movie that would otherwise be missing. Ashton Sanders is featured as Bobby Brown, but ultimately he lacks the talents of the other main players and is nearly off putting at times.
Where the Whitney Houston biopic really soars is in its recreations of the live performances. Ackie lip syncs for almost the entirety of the movie other than the first singing scene during her younger years. For those that are into the history of Houston and had experienced her concerts, you'll be blown away by how realistic the scenes are. Where this one falters is in some of the quick editing and scenes that seem to jump around or out of chronological order. Another highlight is the dedication by the design crew. All of the costuming is pitch perfect and era specific to the singer, matching her personal style to exacted detail.
The core of this story is a deep and depressing one. From her youth to her years as the biggest singer in the world, Houston's life was not an easy one. Beginning with an abusive father that stole her later fortunes, a stoic mother that couldn't see the error of her ways, and a husband that turned her on to drugs, I Wanna Dance With Somebody rides a fine line between seeming like it might be best as a made for streaming movie and being a great theatrical release. Diving into her years of chemical abuse is a real wake-up call that shines a light on Houston's own admissions that it wasn't all Brown's fault and that the media strictly painted him as the cause for her downfall.
At the concluding moments of the 2022 theatrical window comes a biopic that checks all the expected boxes but also digs much deeper into familial troubles than many other features in this category. If you're a fan of Houston, you may wanna see this one. If you're not, you'll wanna catch it on a digital release. This is nothing that has to be seen in cinemas but is more so a good time filler. Houston's history is one that is marked with excess and self-inflicted harm. It's just good enough but not great.
-CG
