Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Directed by Kasi LemmonsA joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, one of the greatest female R&B pop vocalists of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musical super stardom.
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Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody Ratings & Reviews
- Kevin WardJuly 4, 2025This is a bit of a mixed bag as far as music biopics go. First, Naomi Ackie is really excellent and handles all of the elements with precision from Whitney’s mannerisms and movements the incredibly difficult task of lip syncing to Whitney’s vocals. It’s not easy to make lip syncing look believable, but I think for the most part it’s accomplished really well. There is simply no substitute for Whitney’s voice and being able to use all her original recordings is a huge plus. The film does really well to recreate/recapture many of her Houston’s most iconic moments. Even though there isn’t anything as flashy as say a Baz Luhrman musical, director Kasi Lemmons does enough to summon the emotions of seeing these moments in real life. Unfortunately, much of the behind the music drama isn’t as compelling depicted. It could have (and should have) been so much more. But even though the drama is a bit surface level and boring at times, Whitney’s voice serves as the ultimate cheat code. If the audience starts to get bored, just hit ⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️🅱️🅰️ and her rendition of the The Star Spangled Banner and the 1994 American Music Awards medley starts playing. It’s hard not to be moved to tears knowing that that voice was silenced so prematurely. Ultimately, it’s a nice tribute, but not a great biopic. P.S. I didn’t know where to fit this in to my review, but I found it humorous that it was clear that they could only obtain the rights to a single 1.5 second clip of Kevin Costner from The Bodyguard. They must’ve paid a pretty penny for it though, because they used the sh🤩 out of it in that segment of the film. 😆
- 匚卂尺ㄥJanuary 29, 2025🎶Whitney Houston rises from unknown gospel singer to global superstar. A routine, run of the mill seen it all before but still enjoyable music biopic with an excellent performance from Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston and good supporting performances from Stanley Tucci as her manager and Clarke Peters as her father in a movie which should at least please Whitney Houston fans covering the period from her discovery in 1983 up till her death in 2012 with a checklist covering her greatest hits.
