Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

It is a celebration of her too-short, spectacular career but it does not ignore her drug use, her sexual relationship with Crawford, her tempestuous marriage, and her concert disasters.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody plays by the rules of the TV movie to efficient, if scarcely groundbreaking, effect. It will change no minds about Whitney Houston.

Instead of utilizing the biopic genre to reveal Houston’s deeper emotionality, experiences, and relationships, the movie often feels as though one is merely watching characters walk through a summary of her major live events

This doggedly formulaic picture struggles to capture even a fraction of the electrifying sparkle of Houston at the peak of her powers.

Naomi Ackie acts and lip-synchs her heart out as the longbird legend, but Whitney deserved a much better movie than this patchwork, cobbled-together biopic that barely skims the professional highs and personal lows that made up her tragically short life.

If Whitney Houston fans long to feel her essence again, this movie and its illusions gives them a chance. But not like an extraordinary biofilm. More like a condensed diary with lots of wonderful music.

Content with staying in expected territory... makes for a rousing yet routine addition to the music biopic canon.

There’s never a false note in Naomi Ackie’s performance...it feels effortless, avoiding any sense of imitation, she fully inhabits the role...Ackie really sells it, as she lip syncs for her life, capturing Whitney’s on-stage presence, passion, and spirit.

It’s just completely mediocre and not worth your time.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody breaks my cardinal rule of biopics that I have mentioned time and time again. It tells too big of a story without getting specific about anything.