I was a little worried as I sat down in the theatre to watch Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody. I am a big Whitney fan and I had heard less than great things about this movie. As the credits rolled, I had been reminded why I had loved her as a performer and also well and truly had my heart broken.
How to Download Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you want to see other biographical films about music stars, be sure to check out also Elvis, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, or Respect.
The Movie Review
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a fine biopic and a movie that I am kind of dumbfounded is not getting a bunch of more positive reviews. It seems like a movie that the “critics” did not like, but the people who paid to see it for the most part do. Before I get into the movie, I have to say that it made me realize just how big a part of my life Whitney Houston had been.
As a kid growing up in the 80s, I loved her pop hits like, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, I entered my teenage years as she became a movie star and I was getting down in the clubs during my college years as she had a more R&B sound. The movie made me realize just how much of an incredible talent she was and also how much of a troubled soul she was.
What we have here is a basic retelling of her life. From her being discovered by Clive Davis in the 80s, which is a story that I have loved and it was great seeing it on the big screen – to her toxic relationship with Bobby Brown to the last days of her life as she struggled to get her career and personal life back on track.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a movie that has some great highs and I do feel like they do a great job of showcasing some of the major career highlights that she had. Seeing her absolutely nail it in the awesome movie The Bodyguard and her late 90s R&B sound was great.
I do have to say that this is a movie that is not all sunshine and rainbows. It really does dwell on the negative aspects of her life perhaps just a bit too much. However, on the flip side of this, for all the highs and good that her life had, she had some pretty dark demons that she faced and ultimately fell to so I guess to try and make this just an all “happy” kind of movie would not have been telling the true story.
As far as the casting goes, I remember when this was announced and I said to my wife “who the heck are they going to get to play Whitney?” Well, they cast English actress, Naomi Ackie in the role and she is great, as is Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis. I actually would have loved a Whitney movie that was all set in the 80s and 90s about her relationship with Clive Davis!
I would have to say that Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a very heartbreaking movie if you are a fan of hers. On the drive home after seeing this, I fired up Whitney’s greatest hits on Spotify and had a great time falling in love with her music all over again. This is a good biopic, but it is a really depressing one, but to be fair, I do not see how else they could have done this movie!
