She was the most beautiful voice of her generation. She was “The Voice”. Add to that a graceful silhouette, an infectious smile, a queenly bearing and an undeniable charisma. Alas! Like many others before her, Whitney Houston fell into the hell of drugs. On February 11, 2012, at the age of 48, the pop diva was found drowned in the bathtub of the suite she occupied at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel. However sensational the rise of the singer and however tragic her decline, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody turns out to be rather insignificant. If we remove all the songs (often presented in their entirety), including two previously unreleased songs, there is not much left to see.
The biographical drama starring screenwriter Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody) and director Kasi Lemmons (Harriet) focuses more on the successes than the setbacks of the first black artist to earn three diamond-certified albums. While their bias is commendable, the result is disappointing. All the clichés specific to the genre are there, as well as the main lines of the life of Whitney Houston, embodied from 16 to 48 years old by Naomi Ackie. However, from one scene to another, we remain on the surface, as if we were afraid of scratching the statue of the star — already tested during his lifetime. Compared to Kevin Macdonald’s documentary, Whitney (2018), Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody pales in comparison.
Family drama
Thus, we do not expand too much on her romantic relationship with Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams), best friend and creative director of the artist; they barely exchange a chaste kiss. Nor is there any mention of the harmful influence of her brothers, who introduced her to soft drugs. As for his parents, the controlling Cissy (Tamara Tunie) and the dishonest John (Clarke Peters), they look like monoliths. Exit therefore the complex relationship between dad and his princess.
We hardly mention the domestic violence of which she was the victim at the hands of singer Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders), who is presented as an immature little striker, father of Bobbi Kristina, their only daughter who died in 2015 in circumstances similar to those of his illustrious mother.
In the role of Clive Davis, his benevolent producer, Stanley Tucci, irreproachable as always, inherited a more nuanced score. Despite this, the scenes where he is present seem sewn with white thread. How not to laugh when he plays countless cassettes on which are recorded the future hits of the starwho launches into simplistic analyzes of the blue flower lyrics that she dreams of recording?
The golden voice
In Whitney Houston, Naomi Ackie (Star Wars, episode IX. The Rise of Skywalker), who masters the art of lip sync, turns out to be credible. From her stage debut to the first music videos, including the national anthem sung at the 1991 Super Bowl and the famous medley at the 1994 American Music Awards, she perfectly imitates the singer’s sometimes awkward, sometimes assured gestures. In Ackie’s eye, we recognize the burst of pride that shone in Houston’s when she launched into dizzying vocal flights and reclaimed the successes of others with panache, in particular I Will Always Love You, by Dolly Parton — an idea of Kevin Costner, her partner in The Bodyguard (Mick Jackson, 1992).
The problem is that apart from the wigs telling us about the era, nothing in the makeup bears witness to the passing of the years and the effects of alcohol and drugs (cocaine, crack, etc.) on the complexion perfect from the English actress, who hides her happy teeth behind a dental prosthesis. In addition to these aesthetic considerations, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody suffers from poor artistic direction and uninspired staging.
Rather than the kitsch extravagance that was the charm of Houston, we are offered cheesy on the cheap. Whether you are in the recording studio, on a film set, on stage or behind the scenes, each place appears artificial. Without originality, superficial, consensual, the whole looks like a portrait executed in the manner of a paint by number whose colors have been diluted with rose water. The diva deserved better than that.