A One Mann’s Movies review of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” (2022).
My last film of 2022, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is the occasionally uplifting but ultimately sad story of Whitney Houston. In the most blindingly unnecessary example of marketing mansplaining, the film company seemed to see fit to add “Whitney Houston:” as a prefix to the title. But I have chosen to omit this!
It’s striking to see how similar many of these musical biopics are, charting the rise and fall (and occasional rise again) of the stars involved. “Judy“, “The United States vs Billie Holiday“, “The Rose” (Janis Joplin), “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Freddie Mercury), “Rocketman” (Elton John), etc etc. All feature the same old story of manipulative agents, alcohol and drugs. You would think the industry would make it mandatory for singers, after their first number 1, to watch all of these films back to back for education purposes!
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (Naomi Ackie) is the gospel singing daughter of her semi-famous singing mother, Cissy Houston (Tamara Tunie). She has Dionne Warwick as a first cousin and Aretha Franklin as her godmother. So has her sights set on similar ambition. She is discovered by agent Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci) and the rest is history. But with fame and touring exhaustion comes the ever-present threat of drink and drugs.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC: “Drug misuse, domestic abuse, discrimination, sex references, language”).
Talent:
Starring: Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Tamara Tunie, Nafessa Williams, Clarke Peters, Ashton Sanders.
Directed by: Kasi Lemmons.
Written by: Anthony McCarten.
Twitter Handles: #wannadancemovie.
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” Review:
Positives:
- Naomi Ackie (who was criminally underused in “Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker“) here gives a committed performance as Whitney, although – and I had to look this up, as I suspect most of the world has – she doesn’t do much singing in the movie…. it’s mostly miming to the great lady herself.
- Stanley Tucci is as solidly reliable as ever.
- The marketing promos yelled “See the great untold story of Whitney Houston” but, to be honest, unless you’ve been living under a rock for 30 years there’s nothing much here that you won’t have heard/expect. But the one revelation, for me, was the lesbian relationship with her teenage friend Robyn (Nafessa Williams), which is nicely (if coyly) portrayed.
Negatives:
- At 144 minutes, it’s way too self-indulgent for a biopic. Many of the songs are sung in full, which will no doubt delight Whitney mega-fans (who would probably rate it 4* and above) but makes the movie drag for those who might LIKE the music but who also want an engrossing film experience. In particular, a final medley performance (at the American Music Awards) generated a “come the f*** on” response from me!
- Although written by Anthony McCarten, co-writer of “Bohemian Rhapsody“, it lacks the charisma and verve of that movie and comes across a bit ‘vanilla’.
- I’m not sure if this is a “negative” (as it generated significant mirth) but the producers clearly had VERY limited rights to footage from “The Bodyguard”. We see a single 10 second shot of Kevin Costner, which appears again, and again and AGAIN!
Monkeys?
There isn’t a “monkey” in this per se, but the first half of the end-titles features photos of the real characters from the movie.
Summary Thoughts on “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”
Kasi Lemmons (who directed the excellent “Harriet“) delivers a solid, if not particularly exciting, biopic. Unfortunately, it won’t stay long in the memory. Without the creative flourishes of “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Rocketman“, I found it all a bit linear and bland. But it does at least make you appreciate once again what brilliant talent Whitney Houston had and what a sad thing it was that she died so tragically at the age of just 48.
Trailer for “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tfemzaMkoU .
