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‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ Review: Her Lonely Heart Calls

This film from Kasi Lemmons is a jukebox retelling of Whitney Houston’s parabola from sweatshirts to sequins.

By Amy Nicholson

No one could sing like Whitney Houston, and Kasi Lemmons, the director of the biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” only rarely asks her lead, Naomi Ackie, to try. This is a jukebox retelling of Houston’s parabola from sweatshirts to sequins, from church choir girl to tabloid fixture, from her teenage romance with Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams), the woman who would continue on as her creative director, to her volatile marriage to Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders), who slithers into the movie licking his lips like he’s hungry to eat her alive.

Those beats are here. But it’s the melodies that matter, those moments when Ackie opens her mouth to channel Houston’s previously recorded songs. We’ve heard Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You” countless times, and Lemmons bets, correctly, that the beloved hit will still seize us by the heart during the rather forthright montage she pairs with it, images of Houston marrying Brown, birthing her daughter Bobbi Kristina and honoring Nelson Mandela underneath a sky filled with fireworks.

Ackie doesn’t much resemble the superstar, although her carriage is correct: eyes closed, head flung back, arms pushing away the air as if to make room for that mezzo-soprano. That the film sticks to Houston’s surfaces is half excusable. The screenwriter Anthony McCarten seems to find that the woman underneath the pop star shell was still struggling to define herself at the time of her death at the age of 48. We see her raised to be the mini-me of her mother, the singer Cissy Houston (Tamara Tunie), complete with matching haircut, and then handed over to a recording label to be transformed into America’s Princess, a crown she wore with hesitance, and, later, resentment. (Stanley Tucci plays her friendly, Fagin-with-a-combover Clive Davis of Arista Records, who also produced this film.) At Houston’s final “Oprah” performance, recreated here, she belts an earnest ballad called, “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.”

Houston didn’t write her own material; she just sang like she did, courtesy of Cissy’s fastidious coaching. “God gives you a gift, you got to use it right,” Cissy lectures. Yet, Houston as seen here can only say yes or no to other people’s ideas of what she should sing, wear and do. (A camera pan suggests, unconvincingly, that Houston thought of the film’s title track as a love song to Crawford.) Increasingly, she chooses opposition. Her successes are shared — and her money swallowed up by her father (Clarke Peters), who was also her manager — but her mistakes are all hers. (Even though Lemmons takes care to include a scene in which Houston absolves Brown of her crack addiction.)

Houston’s defiance is the movie’s attempt to answer the great mystery of her career: why she deliberately damaged her voice through smoking and hard drugs. “It’s like leaving a Stradivarius in the rain!” Davis yelps. The trouble with a gift, the film decides, is it went undervalued by Houston herself, who assumes she’ll be able to hit bombastic high notes every night of her poorly reviewed final world tour. In this doomed stretch, the camera creeps so close to Ackie that you can count the beads of sweat on her nose. The smothering is heavy-handed, yet apropos for an artist who never had the space, or creative motivation, to fully express herself.

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody Rated PG-13 for drugs, cigarettes and swearing. Running time: 2 hours 26 minutes. In theaters.

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About 25 minutes into "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody," an inarticulate, slapdash musical biopic about the famed songstress, the film reaches its high point: Arista Records head Clive Davis ( Stanley Tucci ) enters the nightclub where Houston ( Naomi Ackie ) and her gospel legend mother Cissy Houston ( Tamara Tunie ) are performing. When the latter sees the A&R man taking his seat, she fakes losing her voice, clearing the way for her daughter to sing "The Greatest Love of All." Her vocals climb, soaring to the familiar majestic heights that catapulted her toward stardom. We watch Davis watch her. In one close-up, you can almost imagine dollar signs dancing around his head. The scene is so stirring one woman in my screening pulled out a lighter and waved her flame to the rhythm of Houston's unforgettable vibrato.

During that brief scene, you can imagine "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" gravitating toward a clear-eyed narrative about the annihilation of a voice, talent, and person by flattening her identity for the commodification of an image. But in working with an unfocused script by Anthony McCarten (" Bohemian Rhapsody "), director Kasi Lemmons flounders when rendering the woman beyond the tabloid cliff notes of her life. 

"I Wanna Dance with Somebody" takes great pains to craft an intuitive throughline for Houston's life, as we briefly open in 1994 at the American Music Awards before flashing back to 1983 in New Jersey. But how Lemmons ultimately maneuvers back to the AMAs makes little emotional or logical sense. 

Still, for a short time, we're ready to absorb the saga with Lemmons. We see Houston (her friends call her "Nippy") meeting and forming a lesbian relationship with Robyn Crawford ( Nafessa Williams )—Lemmons should be complimented for not avoiding this portion of the singer's personal life. Houston eventually signs with the steadfast Clive Davis, takes advice from her parents Cissy and the selfish patriarch John Houston ( Clarke Peters ) to tone down her butch image in lieu of becoming America's princess. Soon enough, she begins racking up hits. Unfortunately, these scenes rush by, to the point that their brusque speed fools you into believing that Lemmons is merely trying to get to the real story she wants to tell.

But that story never arrives. Instead, the film hops and skips through the highlights of Houston's career: making the music video for "How Will I Know," choosing the demo tape of the titular "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" from Davis' pile of cassettes, and performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV. All the while, hampered by her drug addiction, her relationship with Crawford frays. Instead, she chooses her image, career, and desire for Bobby Brown (played by Ashton Sanders , who gives the R&B singer a bundle of tics and a vocal cadence alarmingly close to DMX).

The editing choices by Daysha Broadway ("Insecure") are driven by a bare necessity to advance the narrative but not any emotional momentum. Some of her dissonant decisions are unintentionally comedic in an "It's so bad, it's entertaining" way, like when Houston’s father threatens his daughter with litigation from his hospital bed—the next cut is to his funeral.

And the way that Lemmons stages certain scenes doesn't cohere with how humans communicate. One sequence, occurring in the singer’s dressing room, sees Crawford, Houston, and Brown discussing business. Rather than cutting between each person, Lemmons stages the trio in a three-shot in which they don’t face each other but stare awkwardly into a dressing room mirror, giving the appearance of them stiffly speaking to their reflections. 

We never get a sense from this film of Houston as a person; Ackie might as well be a hologram performing these songs. Her marriage to Brown lacks a visible arc; the role that Crawford played in Houston's life after Brown entered is never discussed (though Williams pulls some laughs through her energetic verve); and Cissy and John serve little purpose (Peters makes some very odd, grating choices). But you can't blame any of the actors for coming up short. The script, the editing, the cinematography, and every component of what makes a movie—aside from the impeccable costuming—undermines the performances here.    

The jukebox element of a musical biopic will always prove a hit. The film, however, must be as transcendent as the songbook. None of the performances, unfortunately, are filmed well by cinematographer Barry Ackroyd (" The Hurt Locker "). The lighting proves inconsistent, and his shaky cam style plays incongruously with the musical staging. Only the tunes themselves make these scenes remotely watchable. It's a sad development, and for a director of Lemmons' caliber, it is particularly shocking.   

It's never clear what destination this film is heading toward, or what climax we're climbing up to. The score by Chanda Dancy turns unbearably soapy and melodramatic as we fast-forward to Houston's 2009 performance on Oprah, and then her life in Los Angeles in 2012. These events are boxes on a checklist. They would bloat the movie if a scene ever played long enough to fulfill the definition of a scene.

What did Black superstardom mean during the 1980s? What does the erasure of Houston's queer relationship and its modern acceptance say about the strides we've made in Black queer representation? Who was Houston as a mother, as a businesswoman, and as the leader of her career? The script asks these questions but never takes any considerable interest in their answers. 

Much like with " Respect ," last year's Aretha Franklin biopic, the events here all feel meaningless when trying to hit every point of Houston's life. We do arrive back at the AMAs performance, a high-wire vocal act that thrills yet doesn't provide an exclamation point to the biopic. The credits then feature clips of the real-life Houston performing, once again undermining Ackie's turn as the singer. The indelible, unmatched voice of Houston may live on, but "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" lacks the ingredients of what made Houston a force that permanently altered every person who truly heard her.

Now playing in theaters. 

Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels is an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com. Based in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) and Critics Choice Association (CCA) and regularly contributes to the  New York Times ,  IndieWire , and  Screen Daily . He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. He has also written for the Criterion Collection, the  Los Angeles Times , and  Rolling Stone  about Black American pop culture and issues of representation.

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Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022)

Rated PG-13

144 minutes

Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston

Ashton Sanders as Bobby Brown

Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis

Nafessa Williams as Robyn Crawford

Lance A. Williams as Gerry Griffith

Tamara Tunie as Cissy Houston

Clarke Peters as John Houston

Daniel Washington as Gary Houston

JaQuan Malik Jones as Michael Houston

Kris Sidberry as Pat Houston

Tanner Beard as Günther

Bailee Lopes as Bobbi-Kristina (8-10 Yrs old)

Jennifer Ellis as Lisa Hintelmann

• Kasi Lemmons
• Anthony McCarten

Cinematographer

• Barry Ackroyd
• Daysha Broadway
• Chanda Dancy

Latest blog posts

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• User reviews

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

A 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 musi... Read all A 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. A 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.

• Kasi Lemmons
• Anthony McCarten
• Naomi Ackie
• Stanley Tucci
• Ashton Sanders
• 216 User reviews
• 126 Critic reviews
• 51 Metascore
• 1 win & 7 nominations

• Whitney Houston

• Clive Davis

• Bobby Brown

• Cissy Houston

• Robyn Crawford

• John Houston

• Gary Houston

• Bobbi Kristina (8-11 Years Old)

• Bobbi Kristina (16-19 Years Old)

• Michael Houston

• Pat Houston

• Rickey Minor

• (as Kelvin Coffey)

• Gerry Griffith

• Policeman (ATL)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Whitney Houston 's voice is used for 95% of the singing.

Clive Davis : Would you be willing to postpone your wedding to make a movie?

[Hands over a script]

Whitney Houston : The Bodyguard ? What's it about ?

Clive Davis : A world-famous singer and her difficult relationship with her bodyguard.

Whitney Houston : [Tosses script into a trash bin, then pauses] Who's the bodyguard ?

Clive Davis : Kevin Costner.

[Whitney Houston quickly reaches down and retrieves the script]

• Connections Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Tom Hanks/Naomi Ackie/Suranne Jones/Richard Osman/Rina Sawayama (2022)
• Soundtracks I Believe in You and Me Written by Sandy Linzer & David Wolfert Performed by Whitney Houston Courtesy of Arista Records By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment

User reviews 216

• Avwillfan89
• Feb 7, 2023

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• How long is Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody? Powered by Alexa
• December 23, 2022 (United States)
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• Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Compelling Pictures
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• $45,000,000 (estimated)
• $23,708,080
• Dec 25, 2022
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‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ Review: A Lavish, All-Stops-Out Biopic That Channels Her Glory and Gets Her Story Right

Naomi Ackie captures Whitney Houston's incandescence in Kasi Lemmons' bracing biopic.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

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She is more or less forced, by the music industry and by her manipulative business-manager father (played by the superb Clarke Peters), to hide her relationship with Robyn. She complies, though in a complex way, shunting Robyn to the side and sleeping with men, like Jermaine Jackson (Jaison Hunter), whom she’s attracted to, all of which feeds her without fulfilling her. She keeps Robyn hanging around, as her creative director and closest comrade, but Whitney also has a conflicted traditional side. She says she longs for a husband. Was Robyn Whitney Houston’s greatest love of all? The film answers that by dramatizing how the love that a homophobic society coerces Houston into repressing is at the heart of the traumas that come for her later. She denies who she is and keeps trying, and failing, to fill the void.

It doesn’t help that a segment of her audience turns on her for making pop music that’s “not Black enough.” Whitney herself, commiserating with Robyn, ruefully mocks the image she has to project in the “How Will I Know” video: flip, bouncy, and flirtatious, with a wig of taffy curls and the wholesome grin of what she derisively calls “America’s sweetheart.” That wasn’t her; her personality was grittier, wilder, tougher (she hated wearing dresses), and she felt alienated from the princess-next-door image she was selling.

The music, however, was another story. The movie shows us how Whitney meticulously chose among the songs Clive Davis found for her (he knew she couldn’t sell a song unless she believed in it), and how her taste was broader than traditional R&B because she’d grown up in a far more eclectic world. The songs reflected her spirit — and besides, it’s a form of elitism to believe that a pop song as luminous as “So Emotional” or “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” somehow lacks the “purity” of rock ‘n’ roll or R&B.

We see Whitney getting booed at the 1988 Soul Train Music Awards, and the film says it’s no coincidence that that’s the night she meets Bobby Brown, the sexy scurrilous lightweight she hitches herself to like a jalopy to hell. Ashton Sanders, who gave “Moonlight’s” greatest performance, plays Brown with just the right touch of slit-eyed saturnine opportunism. He and Whitney have a fatal attraction — she gives him respectability, he gives her street cred. And maybe she felt, too much, that she needed that. There’s a moment between them that’s so horrifying it’s funny: Bobby proposes to Whitney in the back of a car, and then, after he pops the bling on her finger, he drops some news he should have told her beforehand. This is who he is. So why did a star of Houston’s power and magnitude embrace this scroundrel as her romantic destiny?

The movie could have pushed the darkness a notch further, as Whitney spins down in a vicious cycle of splintered ego and self-destruction. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is frank enough about her cocaine addiction, but her dissolute final days are staged rather demurely. Yet through it all, we feel the terrible way that she’s pulled in all directions — a tricky thing for a biopic to dramatize, and this one does it thrillingly well. Kasi Lemmons’ staging has an unfussy intimacy, and she pulls off a coup by ending the film with one of Whitney’s greatest performances, though one that’s not nearly as famous as her “Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1991 Super Bowl. It’s her live performance of the medley of “I Loves You, Porgy,” “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and the supremely devotional “I Have Nothing” from the 1994 American Music Awards, which builds and builds until her voice shines like a heavenly beacon. It lights the audience up.    

Reviewed at Sony Screening Room, Nov. 30, 2022. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 146 MIN.

• Production: A Sony Pictures Releasing release of a TriStar Pictures, Compelling Pictures, Black Label Media, Muse of Fire, Primary Wave Entertainment production. Producers: Anthony McCarten, Pat Houston, Clive Davis, Larry Mestel, Denis O’Sullivan, Jeff Kalligheri, Matt Jackson, Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill, Thad Luckinbill, Matthew Salloway, Christina Papagjika. Executive producers: Naomi Ackie, Janice Beard, Lexie Beard, Tanner Beard, Jane Bergére, Marina Cappi, Dennis Casali, Josh Crook, Matthew Gallagher, Erika Hampson, Stella Meghie, Rachel Smith, Seth Spector.
• Crew: Director: Kasi Lemmons. Screenplay: Anthony McCarten. Camera: Barry Ackroyd. Editor: Daysha Broadway. Music: Chanda Dancy, Whitney Houston.
• With: Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Nafessa Williams, Tamara Tunie, Clarke Peters. Ashton Sanders, Bria Danielle Singleton.

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Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody Reviews

It's miraculous that a movie penned by the screenwriter of Bohemian Rhapsody would be worth watching, but Kasi Lemmons continues to prove she is a highly versatile filmmaker/actor whose imprint on cinema will be felt for decades to come.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Mar 6, 2024

It wasn’t gay enough, but that it was gay at all gives me hope we’ll get this part of her story done right some day.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2024

I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a disservice to the memory of Whitney Houston. Make a playlist, watch videos, dance to her music. That’s a better way to remember her.

Full Review | Sep 6, 2023

“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” has broad, nostalgic appeal – because who doesn’t want to take a break and listen to Whitney’s greatest hits for two-plus hours with period-perfect re-creations of music videos and performances?

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 16, 2023

You get the sense that someone handed screenwriter Anthony McCarten (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) a studio note that simply read, “Play the hits.”

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 9, 2023

This one is far from being the best biopic I’ve seen, despite the cast's committed performances. Glad they opted to use Houston's real voice, as it would be impossible to imitate THAT.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 8, 2023

Whitney Houston fans won't want to miss this combo pack revealing glimpses of the person behind the star. A must-have for any true fan.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 2, 2023

WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY is like the SparkNotes of [Houston's] life, a smattering of collected moments that feel hollow.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Feb 21, 2023

Like in a musical, I Wanna Dance with Somebody links triumphs and failures to songs, yet it doesn't amount to more than a superficial and decaffeinated story about the winner of 411 awards... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Feb 9, 2023

I Want to Dance With Somebody exposes its protagonist's descent, but never really asks what led to this unexpected and abrupt end... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 9, 2023

But, and in I Want to Dance With Somebody there is more than one 'but', everything or almost everything gets lost, it vanishes, blurs. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 9, 2023

Lemmons and screenwriter Anthony McCarten never get to the truth about Whitney, piecing together one scene after another after another... like writing a pop song with lyrics, melody and rhythm, but without a hook.

Full Review | Feb 8, 2023

... Covers the life and work of the late artist in autopilot, embracing each and every cliché of the genre. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 8, 2023

The story is good but the musical numbers are amazing.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 3, 2023

As good as Ackie was, the final moments of the film for anyone who has seen the 1994 American Music Awards love medley only highlights the distance between her and Whitney...

Full Review | Jan 30, 2023

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

Full Review | Jan 26, 2023

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 16, 2023

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

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Jan 13, 2023

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 11, 2023

For anyone needing more, the documentary Whitney certainly provides a more interesting dive. As a biopic, this film is entirely satisfactory without ever tipping into being offensively bad.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jan 11, 2023

‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ Comes to Praise Whitney Houston, Not to Bury Her

By David Fear

You don’t have to be fanatical about Whitney Houston to have a go-to Whitney moment — you just need to love the sound of a human voice soaring into the stratosphere. Early adopters would probably cite her 1983 appearance on The Merv Griffin Show, right after Clive Davis signed her to Arista (she sang “Home” from the play The Wiz ). Others go straight to the “How Will I Know?” music video , which helped break her on MTV and thus, the pop charts. Hardcore Houston-heads know that if you want the real best-in-show performance, you check out the medley she performed at the 1994 American Music Awards of “I Loves You Porgy,” “And I Am Telling You,” and “I Have Nothing,” a true-blue vocalist triathlon. And don’t get us started on her definitive rendition of the National Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl ….

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Instead, the movie works determinedly, almost single-mindedly to bring the focus back to her talent. That was what made Arista Records founder Clive Davis ( Stanley Tucci , part stunt casting and part inspired choice) sit up straight when he heard the young Houston sing at a tiny night club in New York City, and sign her almost immediately afterward. The talent was what inspired her mother, Cissy (Tamara Tunie), also a renowned and touring singer, to sacrifice the spotlight so her daughter could properly shine. (It’s Cissy who fakes a cough when Davis shows up at the Sweetwater’s gig, and Cissy who starts conducting the Merv Griffin Show ’s orchestra when the tempo gets sluggish during Whitney’s appearance. Per the film, at least.) The talent is how Houston went from simply making records to breaking records.

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Which is usually when the film bumps up against the curse that afflicts most music biopics: trying to depict a complicated life in a little over two hours. Screenwriter Anthony McCarten, who cowrote Bohemian Rhapsody , doesn’t try to push Houston’s romantic relationship with Crawford into the background or pretend it didn’t exist. There’s no gray area as to their love for each other, with Houston even telling Davis that the title song is about “when you wanna dance with somebody…but you just can’t. ” Message received. But even Crawford, hired as a “creative assistant,” is eventually relegated to just another person there to say “No” or “Be careful” or “You’ve changed” or “You need to change” before exiting stage left.

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‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ Review: A Basic Whitney Houston Biopic Sets Her Wikipedia Page to Song

David ehrlich.

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A music biopic so broad and hacky it makes “Jersey Boys” seem like “All that Jazz,” Kasi Lemmons ’ well-acted but laughably trite “ Whitney Houston : I Wanna Dance with Somebody ” is an anonymous portrait of a singular artist — a by-the-numbers “Behind the Music” episode that needs 146 minutes to say almost nothing about a once-in-a-lifetime voice. Not even “Bohemian Rhapsody” was so obviously written by the guy who wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody,” as Anthony McCarten ’s algorithmic script skips down the various sections of Houston’s Wikipedia page with all the flow of a scratched greatest hits CD.

Here’s young Whitney as a choir soloist at the New Jersey church where she discovers her love for music. There she is at Arista Records’ HQ listening to the demo track for her future hit single, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” (“It’s about wanting to dance with somebody,” she says approvingly). Once her career takes off, the rest of her life is reduced to a diminishingly unsophisticated series of reactions to whatever happened in the previous scene, which doesn’t express Houston’s struggle to be everything to everyone so much as it does this movie’s desperation to be anything to anyone.

Whitney’s militaristic father demands that she break up with her secret girlfriend Robyn and play straight for the public? Cut to: Whitney announcing that she had sex with Jermaine Jackson. Whitney can’t stand the criticism that she isn’t Black enough? Cut to: Her flirting with rising R&B star Bobby Brown at the Soul Train Awards. Whitney mollifies Robyn’s panic with a calm “it’s not like we’re getting married?” Cut to: A scene we’ve been so well-trained to predict that actually watching it seems redundant (although it serves as a valuable reminder not to marry anyone tacky enough to pop the question in the back of a stretch limo).

Oh, well, it’s not as if there’s much hope left for Lemmons’ biopic at that point. Even by the time Whitney is discovered by Clive Davis at a New Jersey nightclub (an all-time groaner of a “you know that new sound you’re looking for?” moment), “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” has already become such a self-parody of its own genre that I kept waiting for Houston to perform a duet with Dewey Cox. At least that would have provided an unexpected note in an estate-approved film that’s been fully authorized within an inch of its life.

And yet, the abject laziness of the film’s construction isn’t quite enough to diminish the spirited zeal of its cast. That naturally begins with rising star Naomi Ackie (“Lady Macbeth”), whose radiant lead performance so convincingly suffuses octaves of feeling into a script full of flat notes that you will likely often forget she was lip-syncing Houston’s songs. Demure one minute, domineering the next, and always possessed with a self-belief that she can’t quite extend to the people around her, Ackie’s take on Houston would’ve been a wonderful character if this movie were as interested in the singer as it is in her songs.

As it stands, Whitney’s character development slows to a crawl shortly once she turns 19 and becomes Clive Davis’ new favorite client (the menschy, business-minded Davis is played by a very Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci). It’s only during her earlier days — which “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” races through in about 15 minutes flat — that we get a clearer sense of what she wants, where she’s coming from, and what she might be afraid of leaving behind. Whitney’s relationship with her mom Cissy (the ever-reliable Tamara Tunie) is one of the film’s greatest strengths, never more so than during the scenes when she dragoons her teenage daughter into making the most of her god-given talents.

Does Cissy, a lifelong backup singer who feels overshadowed by nieces Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, put undue pressure on Whitney to succeed where she fell short? It’s possible. But Cissy’s outsized ambition never comes at the expense of her maternal tenderness, and Tunie’s carefully balanced performance speaks volumes about the source of Whitney’s strength, just as Clarke Peters’ incisive but unflattering take on the superstar’s hyper-patriarchal father speaks volumes about Whitney’s struggle to own that strength offstage.

Defanged as this film can feel, that it was made with full support of the singer’s brother and sister-in-law makes it all the more damning that her father comes off as such a womanizing money monster (it’s funny that Cissy doesn’t age a day across the script’s almost 40-year span, while John Houston devolves from virile DILF to the Crypt Keeper as if sin itself were ravaging his skin).

It’s also during those formative teenage years that Whitney befriends Robyn Crawford (a compelling Nafessa Williams, who ironically played Bobby Brown’s pregnant ex-girlfriend in the Angela Bassett-directed Lifetime movie “Whitney,” one of the previous Houston bio-projects that “profoundly disappointed the fans and the people closest to her,” according to a saucy line in the press notes for “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”). The two cross paths in a meet-cute that’s scripted and scripted with all the excitement of swiping a Metrocard, but Ackie and Williams embrace the ease of their characters’ mutual attraction.

Sadly relegated to the stuff of rumor until after Houston’s death, the singer’s relationship with Crawford is at least somewhat reclaimed here as — if not the greatest love of all — the rare circumstance in Houston’s life when love gave to her without taking. What Houston gave back to Crawford is less clear, as this movie is too busy jumping between the bullet points of Houston’s biography to bother exploring how she felt about her. Ostracized and neglected as Crawford may have been by Houston’s family, it’s hard to imagine that Houston herself was as cruelly indifferent to her ex-girlfriend and creative director as she appears here.

Overstuffed and underwritten, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” falls back on Whitney’s feeling of being spread thin between too many people at once as an excuse for making her a passenger in this warp-speed telling of her own life story. Things eventually move fast enough that scenes bleed into each other over the soundtrack, the beats of McCarten’s checklist-like script smudged by the constant undercurrents of crowd noise that carry the movie from one concert to the next.

The film’s cram-it-all-in approach makes it impossible for “Eve’s Bayou” director Lemmons to assert her usual control, or to anchor even the most tragic moments of Houston’s life with the gravity they deserve (the scene where she miscarries during the middle of a take while shooting “The Bodyguard” feels nearly as artificial as the CGI fighter jets that scream over her Super Bowl performance).

Grateful as fans might be that this glossy biopic doesn’t go full “Blonde,” the bit where Bobby turns violent would barely even register if not for the volatility of Ashton Sanders ’ clenched performance, while more time is spent on the covert manner by which Whitney acquired her drugs than on why she began using them in the first place. And while Whitney’s relationship with her daughter is too pure for even the most superficial of biopics to diminish its love and sadness, those feelings exist purely in the abstract, and don’t feel any more nuanced or personal than they would have without the previous two hours as a prelude.

“Every song is a story,” someone says, “if it’s not a story, it’s not a song.” Well, all-time chart-toppers like “When You Believe,” “Higher Love,” and “I Will Always Love You” are definitely songs, so where are the stories behind them? Watching “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” I couldn’t help but wonder if if McCarten-esque karaoke biopics — which unfold more like animated jukeboxes than full-bodied dramas — don’t fail at honoring their subjects so much as they succeed at letting audiences sing along to their lives.

Maybe people want to watch a movie for the first time and feel as if they can already mouth the words to every line, because the real subject of these music biopics aren’t the icons who inspired them, but rather the enjoyment that we continue to take from their work… and the streaming money that our rediscovered enthusiasm inspires from us in turn. We used to have greatest hits CDs, and now we have glorified cosplay. And yet the cosplay is obviously great here, and so are the hits.

“To sing with the gods,” one character says, “sometimes you need a ladder.” Or maybe you just need the rights.

Sony Pictures will release “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody” in theaters on Friday, December 23.

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British actor Naomi Ackie plays the title role in “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”

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One could argue there wasn’t a pressing need for a Whitney Houston biopic, given that in the decade since Houston’s tragic passing at the age of 48, we’ve seen a plethora of TV specials, at least two documentaries, “Whitney: Can I Be Me?” and “Whitney,” a Lifetime biopic also titled “Whitney” and a thinly veiled Netflix film called “Beauty” that was clearly inspired by Houston.

And we can easily Google and find footage of Houston’s iconic performances, from her TV debut on “The Merv Griffin Show” at age 18 through her legendary rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1991 Super Bowl to her live performance of a trio of songs at the 1994 American Music Awards, plus all those music videos.

And yet. In a year when both Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley were the subjects of fictionalized biographies for the umpteenth time, why not Houston? Unlike the dazzling and dizzying “Elvis” and the exploitative and nightmarish “Blonde,” director Kasi Lemmons’ “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is the most straightforward, linear, by-the-numbers treatment imaginable — a veritable “Film-ipedia” entry that is more tribute than eulogy, more celebration than lamentation.

With astonishingly accurate re-creations of many of the touchstone performances in Houston’s career and a star-power performance from the British actor Naomi Ackie as Houston, along with stellar supporting work from a reliable cast of veteran and familiar faces, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is a consistently entertaining biopic that rarely digs beneath the surface despite the 2 hour and 26 minute running time. Houston basically gets the “Bohemian Rhapsody” treatment in that the film glosses over some of the darkest moments in her life. (In fact, Anthony McCarten is the screenwriter of both films), but it works beautifully as a feature-film biography highlighting one of the most incredible voices and one of the most infectious star personalities of a generation.

After a brief prologue in which we see Houston growing up in East Orange, New Jersey, in a house where her parents, John (Clarke Peters) and Cissy (Tamara Tunie) fought often and loudly, and Houston meeting and becoming friends and eventually lovers with Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams), it’s time for the “Star is Born” moments. Cissy sets her own spotlight ambitions aside and arranges for Houston to sing “The Greatest Love of All” at the New York nightclub Sweetwater’s with the legendary starmaker Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci, in full mensch-father-figure mode) in attendance, and just a couple of weeks later, Clive is introducing Houston to Merv Griffin and a national TV audience, and when Houston kills with a rendition of “Home” from “The Wiz,” she’s on her way to superstardom.

• To play Whitney Houston, British actor focuses on what was going on inside

“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” has all the usual musical biopic moments, including the medley showing her racking up one No. 1 hit after another, moving into an outlandishly oversized mansion, singing in front of adoring crowds, etc., etc. Lemmons and the production design, costume and makeup artists do a fabulous job of re-creating the music video for “How Will I Know,” as well as Houston’s show-stopping performance of the national anthem at the Super Bowl (though the crowd scenes and the fighter jets are obvious CGI creations).

As for the darker elements: While Houston’s mother Cissy is controlling, but clearly loving and supportive, her husband John abuses his position as Houston’s manager all the way to his deathbed, where he demands to be paid. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” briefly touches on the controversy at the 1988 Soul Train Music Awards, where protesters claimed Houston was too bland and white-sounding.

Cue the entrance into the story of one Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders, from “Moonlight”), a scurrilous player who latched onto Houston for respectability, while she seemingly was drawn to him in order to gain some sort of street cred. We all know how destructive and awful that relationship turned out to be. But while we see Houston getting wasted, and we know the fate awaiting her, we don’t see anything as stark and alarming in the film as we saw in real life, e.g., Houston’s disastrous “Crack is whack” interview with Diane Sawyer.

Naomi Ackie doesn’t bear an obvious resemblance to Houston, yet she somehow channels her, especially in the performance scenes. The voice we hear is almost exclusively Houston’s; as Ackie put it in an interview, “97.9% of it is Whitney.” Still, when Ackie takes the stage and lip-syncs to Houston’s epic performance of “I Loves You Porgy,” “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and “I Have Nothing” at the 1994 American Music Awards, it’s a soaring, triumphant sequence reminding us of why we loved Whitney Houston and why we wish she had been able to fend off those demons and continue to sing with the angels.

Review: Superstar biopic ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ is decidedly off-key

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When remembering the iconic life and career of Whitney Houston , there are many defining moments that instantly spring to mind: when she obliterated “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl in 1991, thereby rendering all other versions subpar, her soaring rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” from “The Bodyguard,” or even her concert at Wembley Stadium in honor of Nelson Mandela. In the new biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” those moments are acknowledged, albeit briefly. Instead, writer-producer Anthony McCarten has chosen to bookend this slog through Houston’s career and all-too-short life with … her performance at the 1994 American Music Awards?

Indeed, the 10-minute medley, which is re-created in full, was a virtuosic vocal performance of which only Houston was capable, but this deep cut seems an odd choice to open and close the film. It’s the kind of choice that makes one question everything in “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” a film that is not engrossing enough on its own to prevent one’s mind from wandering toward the nagging questions about who made these decisions and why.

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Director Kasi Lemmons is behind the camera, though McCarten , the writer of such award-winning biopics as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Darkest Hour,” “The Theory of Everything” and “The Two Popes,” is the driving force, having purchased the rights to Houston’s life and written the screenplay on spec. Legendary music mogul Clive Davis is also a producer, as well as Pat Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law, former manager and the executor of her estate. Davis is played by Stanley Tucci in the film as a warm father figure and confidant for Whitney, while Kris Sidberry has a small role as Pat.

British actress Naomi Ackie bravely takes on the impossible task that is portraying Houston. While Ackie transforms herself, and nails all the Whitney-style mannerisms and gestures, the fact of the matter is that Whitney Houston’s talent and beauty was otherworldly in a way that mere mortals simply cannot channel.

As the film, set to the beat of that steady music biopic rhythm, progresses from hit song to hit song, with careful selections from Whitney’s complicated life playing out in between, the whole thing starts to feel like a promotion of her back catalog. What McCarten chooses to reveal and conceal in Whitney’s story is telling, especially if you’ve seen any of the documentaries about her life; 2017’s “Whitney: Can I Be Me?” or 2018’s “Whitney.”

The sensitive details of Whitney’s life are approached with blunt instruments rather than incisiveness, and what’s left out seems indicative of who’s telling the story and why. Her romantic relationship with close friend Robyn (Nafessa Williams) is presented early and candidly, and the film implies her substance abuse issues are related to her repressed sexuality and the pressure to perform at the behest of her exploitative father John (Clarke Peters) and demanding, perfectionist mother Cissy (Tamara Tunie). Whitney’s drug use is presented as a solo endeavor, or as a part of her relationship with R&B bad boy Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders), while other members of her inner circle are let off the hook.

Lemmons is a talented and experienced filmmaker, but cinematically, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is inert, leaving one to ponder if she was hamstrung by producers, the script, or shooting during the pandemic. There is no sense of world-building or life beyond the edges of the frame. Lemmons and Ackie faithfully re-create some of Whitney’s memorable music videos, but it always feels like Ackie is wearing a Whitney Houston costume rather than inhabiting a fully realized human being.

As the film progresses toward Whitney’s tragic end, it starts to take on a distinctly ghoulish quality, especially a scene that imagines her frame of mind before her death. It’s a film that ultimately feels less like a celebration and more like further exploitation of the star, leaving us all with much more unsettling questions about Houston’s life and legacy. Sadly, the disappointing “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” doesn’t let Whitney rest in peace.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Rated: PG-13, for strong drug content, some strong language, suggestive references and smoking Running time: 2 hours, 26 minutes Playing: Starts Dec. 23 in general release

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I Wanna Dance With Somebody review – doggedly formulaic Whitney Houston biopic

The singer’s voice is mostly lip-synced, by British actor Naomi Ackie, but this by-numbers film falls well short of capturing Houston’s mega-watt appeal

G iven the movie-friendly trajectory of Whitney Houston’s life and career (stellar rise; glittering success; tragic fall: check!), the main surprise is that it took as long as it did for her to end up as fodder for the always-hungry music biopic industry. What’s no surprise at all, unfortunately, is that this doggedly formulaic picture struggles to capture even a fraction of the electrifying sparkle of Houston at the peak of her powers. As music mogul Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci) says, having just had his comb-over blasted several feet off his balding pate by the young Whitney’s vocal range, hers was a once-in-a-generation voice.

Not surprisingly, it’s predominantly Houston’s voice we hear in the film, with British actor Naomi Ackie lip-syncing pretty convincingly in the central role. But Houston was more than just that incredible voice. Her stage presence, her style, her winning charisma: it all combined into something unique. Something that Ackie only sporadically captures.

It should be stressed that the problem doesn’t lie with Ackie necessarily, but rather with a leaden, by-numbers screenplay from Anthony McCarten, who brings to this film the same box-ticking approach he employed with Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody . And director Kasi Lemmons seems content to skim through the early part of Houston’s journey in a flighty, extended montage, only slowing down to dig into the story once the addiction has kicked in, the marriage is imploding and Houston’s downfall is under way.

This slightly salacious fascination with the fall from glory is something that I Wanna Dance With Somebody shares with numerous other music biopics. But unlike Walk the Line , say, or Ray , there is no redemptive arc to soften the blow. At the film’s conclusion, Lemmons refrains from showing Houston’s death (although there are a few too many pointed shots of dripping bath taps), instead opting for a flashback to a high point in the singer’s career. It’s a powerful device, but one that doesn’t feel entirely sincere.

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Things to do, tv and streaming | review: ‘whitney houston: i wanna dance with somebody’ is a well-acted biopic about not just a voice, but the voice.

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Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams) and Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie) share a moment in "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody."

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Naomi Ackie recreates the 1991 Super Bowl "Star-Spangled Banner" sequence in "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody."

Stanley Tucci and Naomi Ackie in "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody."

Mostly, almost entirely, it is not British actor Naomi Ackie’s singing voice you hear as Whitney Houston in the smooth, enjoyable new biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”

The unmatchable voice of the late pop phenomenon, not just any voice but The Voice, comes through, rangy, supercharged and ever-amazing, on the big hits newly remixed from Houston’s original vocals. Nobody’s trying to sing like Whitney Houston while playing the role of Whitney Houston.

And no, Ackie doesn’t physically resemble Houston, whose story here begins in 1983, singing in the Baptist church choir led by her mother, Cissy, and ends with Houston’s 2012 death in the bathtub of a Beverly Hilton suite.

Both no’s are fine with me. They’re choices, not mistakes — questions of casting (look-alike, or not so much?) and musical approach (subject’s voice, lip-synced by leading performer, or not?) every biopic of any musical great must answer.

This one is directed with a straightforward, humane touch by Kasi Lemmons (whose previous pictures include “Eve’s Bayou,” the criminally under-seen Don Cheadle-starring “Talk to Me” and “Harriet”). It has its standard-issue components and the air of a highly official presentation of events. The Houston estate representatives, along with Arista Records legend Clive Davis, Houston’s mentor and sounding board, are all over this thing.

Gratifyingly, screenwriter Anthony McCarten deals with Houston’s crucial lifelong friendship, eventual working relationship and (years before her marriage to Bobby Brown) romantic life with Robyn Crawford. Ackie’s loose, funny early scenes with Nafessa Williams’ Crawford give the movie what it needs to go somewhere.

The air of sensual freedom doesn’t last. “Be seen with young men,” warns Houston’s father, played by Clarke Peters, who wrests control of the empire once his daughter’s first album explodes in 1985. This was no time for coming out and staying on top, in the eyes of the media and certainly in the eyes of Houston’s immediate family. (Tamara Tunie plays Cissy, whose mantra for her daughter’s attack on a song is a simple but difficult: “head. heart. gut.”)

A sexually fluid superstar with deep roots in Christianity and the bad luck of falling prey to manipulators and users within her family circle never had a fighting chance at inner peace. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” manages to suggest some nuance and ambiguity in Houston’s key relationships, and within her own ambitions.

The actors and director Lemmons accomplish what the screenplay does only partially: make us believe the circumstances and the behavior. Ashton Sanders’ Bobby Brown gives us the weasel but also the man. In a role slightly larger than required, I think, Arista legend Davis has the bonus of being played by ever-wry, ever-winning Stanley Tucci.

In the end it is Ackie’s show. If there’s anything missing from her idea of Houston, it’s the tension between the image — “the first Black white-friendly all-American girl,” as she calls herself at one point — and the fervent, family-bound, dutiful yet drug-addled performance beast, who toured ’til she dropped, very nearly. For all that, Ackie has a light touch, and a convincing handle on every stage of the life she’s depicting.

McCarten got an Oscar nomination for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which was a pretty badly written, directed and edited biopic, but it made nearly a billion dollars worldwide because people like Freddie Mercury and Rami Malek did a nice job with him. I’m not sure audiences care a lot about quality in their showbiz sagas as long as the music’s there and they can sing along with it, or at least remember what it meant to them the first time they heard it.

“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” culminates with Houston’s walloping medley, at the 1994 American Music Awards,” of “I Loves You, Porgy” (from “Porgy and Bess”), “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” (from “Dreamgirls”) and “I Have Nothing” (from “The Bodyguard”). The movie’s two-hour, 20-minute running time, not counting end credits, is what it is because we hear and see several of Houston’s performance scenes in full, or close to full. I appreciate that. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” easily twice the biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” was, takes its time where it should.

Another way to put it: It’s good.

“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody” — 3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for strong drug content, some strong language, smoking and suggestive references)

Running time: 2:26

How to watch: Premieres in theaters Dec. 22.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

[email protected]

Twitter @phillipstribune

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Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody Review

26 Dec 2022

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Hollywood can’t seem to escape the formulaic music biopic: the recounting of a star’s life in the most conventional way possible, cramming every trial and tribulation into a single sitting. For every film that tries to break the mould ( Rocketman ), there's at least one more that follows the formula to the letter ( Bohemian Rhapsody ). The latest entry, Kasi Lemmons ’  I Wanna Dance With Somebody,  largely follows this blueprint to the letter.

To the film’s credit, Lemmons’s solid encapsulation of Houston's life from strict church upbringing to superstardom portrays the singer as humanely as possible. Her early struggles to be herself, her relationships — particularly with friend and assistant Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams), mother Cissy (Tamara Tunie) and producer Clive Davis ( Stanley Tucci ) — and her commodification by the music industry as “America’s Princess” add fuel to the fire. It's a promising start.

It's Ackie's impactful performance that elevates this film.

As the legendary star, Naomi Ackie delivers a commanding performance, channelling every iota of Houston's mannerisms and magnetism; it's a career high point for the  Star Wars  actor. When the film excels — most notably Whitney’s performance of the famous ‘impossible medley’ at the American Music Awards, where she sang 'I Loves You, Porgy', 'And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going'  and  'I Have Nothing' — Ackie’s uncanny embodiment reminds you of Houston's soul-stirring power, and why she was rightly named, by musician Andy Gill, as “the greatest voice of her generation”.

There are faithful recreations, too, of Whitney’s iconic music videos, and her famous performance at the 1991 Super Bowl. But despite its 146-minute runtime, the film struggles to cram everything in. The script by Anthony McCarten (who also wrote  Bohemian Rhapsody ) rarely rises above surface-level analogies.

In capturing Whitney’s entire life, the Wikipedia-style exploration is not prepared to dive deeply enough into the emotional complexities and nuances of those key moments (such as the scrutiny, at the time, of Whitney’s music not being ‘Black enough’). The film's tendency to rush off to the next moment creates a tonal whiplash between scenes. It's Ackie's impactful performance that elevates this film; her epic, textured performance is what you'll remember after the lights go down.

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Whitney houston: i wanna dance with somebody, common sense media reviewers.

Superstar's rise to fame has mature themes, drug use.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Champions the value of surrounding yourself with t

Characters are based on real, flawed people who ma

Though Houston's life ultimately ended in a tragic

Some of Houston and Brown's fights get physical: H

Kissing, sometimes followed by characters shown wa

Strong language includes a use of "f---ing," plus

Houston gets visibly wealthier over the course of

Houston had acknowledged substance dependencies th

Parents need to know that I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a biopic about the life and career of Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie), the talented singer who in the 1980s and 1990s had more hit singles than the Beatles. Most viewers will know going in that Houston died in 2012 at age 48. While her untimely death isn…

Positive Messages

Champions the value of surrounding yourself with trusted loved ones, but undercuts this message by demonstrating how Houston's family exploited her. Makes clear how much drugs and alcohol affected Houston's life and career.

Positive Role Models

Characters are based on real, flawed people who make plenty of mistakes. Houston was very talented and worked hard, but she had many struggles, some caused or made worse by family members who worked for her, including her father, and some connected to her marriage with Bobby Brown. He's shown to be an unpredictable partner: sometimes loving, sometimes abusive.

Diverse Representations

Though Houston's life ultimately ended in a tragic and early death, she was a young Black woman who broke through to the highest stratosphere of the entertainment business, serving as a powerful symbol for women, especially Black women, all over the world. Many other Black actors appear, and the movie was directed by a Black woman, Kasi Lemmons. Includes Houston's relationship with her lifelong best friend, Robyn Crawford: The two women were a romantic couple until rumors spread about Houston's sexuality.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Some of Houston and Brown's fights get physical: He pins her against a wall and, in a way that seems very threatening, tells her never to "disrespect" him; she responds by saying she's going to get a gun and "smoke" his "ass" (she doesn't).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Kissing, sometimes followed by characters shown waking up in bed together. A tumultuous marriage is part of this narrative.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong language includes a use of "f---ing," plus "s--t," "damn," "hell," and "ass."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Houston gets visibly wealthier over the course of the movie, with private jets, fancy hotel rooms, and a spacious and luxuriously appointed house shown.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Houston had acknowledged substance dependencies that contributed to her untimely death. She's shown smoking cigarettes and marijuana and preparing to smoke crack: She gets a glass pipe out and lights a spoon, but viewers don't see her actually inhale. Many characters drink to excess, and the effect of both drink and drugs is evident in characters who are sloppy and incoherent. In a touching scene, Houston's attentive manager tells her that she should go to rehab, but Houston doesn't.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a biopic about the life and career of Whitney Houston ( Naomi Ackie ), the talented singer who in the 1980s and 1990s had more hit singles than the Beatles. Most viewers will know going in that Houston died in 2012 at age 48. While her untimely death isn't depicted on-screen, viewers do see plenty of other iffy content as the film presents episodes from her life. Houston smokes cigarettes and marijuana and drinks wine and liquor. She's also shown rolling up a dollar bill in preparation for snorting cocaine and lighting a spoon and wielding a glass pipe in preparation for smoking crack. Drugs played a part in her death, as well as in her tumultuous relationship with singer Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders). They fight frequently and use substances together; in one scene, Brown threatens Houston physically, and she says she's going to get a gun and shoot him dead. Sexual content includes passionate kissing (including between Houston her lifelong best friend, Robyn Crawford, whom she was in a relationship with until rumors spread about Houston's sexuality), implied sex, and heated discussion of infidelity. Strong language includes "f---ing," "s--t," "damn," "hell," and "ass." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (4)
• Kids say (8)

Based on 4 parent reviews

It might not live up to the hypness, but it does deliver a strong performance!

The life of whitney houston on the origins, what's the story.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Whitney Houston ( Naomi Ackie ) was a groundbreaking musical superstar. WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (named in honor of her most enduring hit) traces her life from teenage gospel soloist to background singer to pop icon ... and eventually to tabloid mainstay thanks to her substance abuse and contentious relationship with R&B star Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders). Tamara Tunie co-stars as Houston's mom, soul singer Cissy Houston, and Stanley Tucci plays Houston's longtime producer Clive Davis.

Is It Any Good?

Most viewers will know exactly where this biopic is headed, but it avoids becoming a complete downer by concentrating largely on Houston's successes rather than her flaws. As Houston, Ackie is vibrant and sympathetic. She's larger than life, just as Houston was herself, and inhabits the movie's many full-length performance scenes with spine-tingling star oomph. Fans familiar with Houston's onstage high points -- including the 1994 American Music Awards medley that many call her greatest TV turn and her extraordinary 1991 rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl 25 -- will likely break out in goosebumps watching Ackie powerfully reenacting those moments (although, no, she's not singing herself, except for a few moments when she sings between snatches of dialogue, though she does an excellent lip synch to Houston's vocals).

But in between high-point performances, things sag a bit. The movie rushes through many parts of Houston's story, a typical problem with films that try to condense decades' worth of life into a two-hour running time. And the movie doesn't seem to have a good idea of why Houston transitioned from being America's sweetheart to becoming a tabloid staple. Problems arise (Daddy steals Whitney's money, Brown cheats) and are just as quickly dismissed. Thankfully, I Wanna Dance with Somebody is refreshingly clear on the nature of Houston's relationship with her lifelong best friend, Robyn Crawford (they were a romantic couple until rumors spread about Houston's sexuality), and doesn't dwell on Houston's hit-bottom points: There's no mention of Brown and Houston's infamous reality show, for instance. Ultimately, though, you're left with the impression that you didn't learn much more about Houston than you knew going in, and that's a bitter pill to swallow considering the film's expansive 2-hour, 26-minute running time. But when Ackie takes the stage as Houston, this drama soars, and for fans, that may be enough.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the mix of fame, fortune, and drug problems that the music industry seems to serve up so frequently. According to Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody , do you think Houston's success influenced her substance abuse ?

Talk about TV and movie biopics. How true does a story have to be to a person's real life to be considered biographical? Is it appropriate to take creative license with someone's life story? What if it makes for better entertainment?

Have you ever learned something you didn't know about your favorite celebrity or media role model that was surprisingly negative? Did that change the way you felt about that person?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 23, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : February 7, 2023
• Cast : Naomi Ackie , Stanley Tucci , Tamara Tunie
• Director : Kasi Lemmons
• Inclusion Information : Female directors, Black directors, Female actors, Black actors
• Studio : TriStar Pictures
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Music and Sing-Along
• Run time : 142 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : strong drug content, some strong language, suggestive references and smoking
• Last updated : April 25, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Naomi ackie, ‘i wanna dance with somebody’ cast on “big challenge” of balancing whitney houston’s highs and lows in new biopic.

The team behind the Whitney Houston biopic, which premiered in NYC on Tuesday, discuss her family and Clive Davis' involvement in the project, as well as the film's last-minute name change.

By Katherine Schaffstall

Katherine Schaffstall

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A decade after her death, Whitney Houston ’s life and legacy has made it to the big screen thanks to the Kasi Lemmons -directed biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody , starring Naomi Ackie as the iconic performer.

While attending the premiere at AMC Lincoln Square in New York City on Tuesday, the film’s cast and production team opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about portraying the highs in Houston’s career, as well as some of the low moments in both her professional and personal lives.

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Ashton Sanders, who plays Houston’s husband Bobby Brown, added, “I think this film does a great job at covering the full life of Whitney Houston. We see it from the beginning to the unfortunate end, and I feel like the highs are the highs and the lows are the lows, but it’s all still very beautiful.”

“The point of this film is to show Whitney’s triumphs and the failures, the trials and tribulations, the joy and the sorrow,” added Tamara Tunie, who plays Houston’s mother Cissy Houston. “It’s a multidimensional life lived by a multidimensional human being.”

The film’s producers include Houston’s former collaborator Clive Davis and her sister-in-law Pat Houston, who also worked as the singer’s manager. When asked why she wanted to participate in the biopic, Houston said that Davis’ involvement sold her on the project.

“Clive Davis is one of those people in Whitney’s life that she totally respected. There is nothing that he would do to embarrass her or to bring negativity,” she shared. “He loved Whitney and loved her craft and knew how special she was.”

Meanwhile, Davis promised the film will show viewers a side of Houston that they’ve never seen before. “It will tell you about her sexuality. It will tell you about her addiction to drugs. It will tell you how she and I worked together,” he told THR , adding that it “celebrates the music” they created together.

When it came to preparing for the role, Tucci revealed that he and Davis communicated via Zoom and met in person just days before filming began. “He was invaluable,” Tucci said, noting that he also relied on the Netflix documentary Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives and his 2013 book The Soundtrack of My Life.

Davis also praised Ackie for her portrayal of Houston, saying that he’s “proud to testify” about the believability she brings to the role.

The legendary music producer wasn’t the only person to compliment Ackie’s performance at the premiere. While Tunie called the actress “miraculous,” Lemmons said she “really nailed it” and that the portrayal was so realistic that “it was almost like getting a visitation from Whitney.”

Tucci called Ackie’s performance “staggering,” adding, “I’ve worked with a lot of actors. She’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

The cast and crew also spoke to how Houston’s family’s involvement in the project helped bring her story to life. Lemmons said that having “people that knew her so well and had so many memories that they were willing to share” made the filming process “an amazing experience.” Ackie added that Houston’s family supported her and gave her notes that played an “integral” part in her performance.

The film was originally called I Wanna Dance with Somebody before Houston’s name was added to the front of the title. “We want to make sure the fans know that this is the Whitney Houston biopic,” producer Jeff Kalligheri explained of the name change. “This is the number one Whitney Houston movie. We don’t want any confusion. Everyone knows Whitney’s name. We want them to see her story, so that’s the best way we can make sure that people show up.”

McCarten added that the name change gave the film a “stronger identification” to Houston. “This movie is nothing if not our celebration of Whitney, so it’s a good idea to get a name out front center,” he said.

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody hits theaters on Dec. 23.

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Review: Clumsy Whitney Houston biopic mars its star’s skill

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Naomi Ackie in Tristar’s “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” (Emily Aragones/Sony Pictures via AP)

CORRECTS THE POSITION OF DAVIS AND TUCCI IN THE FRAME - Clive Davis, left, and Stanley Tucci attend the world premiere of “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody” at AMC Lincoln Square on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Stanley Tucci, left, and Naomi Ackie in Tristar’s “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” (Emily Aragones/Sony Pictures via AP)

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Nafessa Williams, left, and Naomi Ackie in Tristar’s “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” (Emily Aragones/Sony Pictures via AP)

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Whitney Houston’s voice was one of a kind and the creative team behind a new big-budget biopic of the singer had no choice but to agree.

Naomi Ackie, who plays Houston in “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” turns in a fierce performance but is asked to lip-sync throughout to Houston biggest hits. The effect is, at best, an expensive karaoke session.

The dilemma that Houston’s own prodigious gift put everyone in is understandable: The chances of finding someone who resembles the singer is hard enough; finding someone who also has the awe-inducing, fluttery vocal ability is a fool’s errand.

But the solution would have been choosing between focusing on Houston’s story or making a documentary that features her singing. It’s unfair to ask Ackie to act her heart out and also have her execute large parts of Houston’s iconic live performances in mimic mode. It’s an uncanny canyon.

The movie is written by Anthony McCarten, who told Freddie Mercury’s story in “Bohemian Rhapsody” and is having quite a moment with two shows on Broadway — “The Collaboration” about artists Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat and “A Beautiful Noise,” a musical about Neil Diamond. McCarten clearly has impressed producers with an ability to tell the stories of modern icons but with Houston the hook is, well, business pressure.

“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is more like a hyped-up “Behind the Music” episode set to Houston’s greatest hits album. It leans on all the cliches: overbearing parents, bad-boy boyfriends and giddy, champagne-popping montages on the way up and sullen montages on the way down as she’s hunted by paparazzi.

Houston is portrayed as a woman who seizes her destiny only late in her cut-short life after struggling with the burden of being the family breadwinner for most of it.

“Everyone is using me as an ATM!” she screams at one point.

Stanley Tucci plays a subdued and concerned Clive Davis — the record executive helped produce the film and comes off like a prince — and Nafessa Williams is superb as Houston’s best friend, manager and lover.

McCarten frames the climax of Houston’s life at the 1994 American Music Awards, where she won eight awards and performed a medley of songs. It is where director Kasi Lemmons’ camera starts and ends, part of an excruciating final section goodbye to the icon that lasts for what feels like an hour and ends with a heavy-handed, written statement that Houston was the “greatest voice of her generation.”

Credit to the Houston estate for not sanitizing Houston’s life, showing her early love affair with a woman, her pushy, demanding parents, the backlash from some in the Black community and not shying away from the descent into drugs that would kill her in 2012 at age 48.

“To sing with the gods, you sometimes need a ladder,” Houston rationalizes in the movie.

Some highlights of the film include Houston and Davis picking hit songs in his office and the recreations of the filming of the video “How Will I Know” and Houston’s triumphant national anthem performance at Super Bowl XXV. Costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones has joyously remade key looks, from Houston’s hair bow and arm warmers to the stunning wedding dress with beaded and sequined cloche hat.

Less well-realized is the section exploring her filming of “The Bodyguard” — the filmmakers try to pass off an old clip of Kevin Costner on the set, a trick they try again later with Oprah — and the portrayal of husband Bobby Brown is not nuanced, leaving him the clear villain of the piece. Lemmons (“Harriet”) also uses a recurring image of a faucet dripping, a graceless way of foreshadowing her death.

Ackie’s performance is something to be cheered, reaching for the the kind of authenticity that Andra Day channeled when she also tackled a doomed musical icon in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”

But so much clumsiness, scenes featuring unnaturally heightened drama with little insight and the compromised authenticity of the performances drag “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” down — ultimately, it’s not right but it’s just OK.

“I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” a Sony Pictures release exclusively in theaters Dec. 23, is rated PG-13 for “strong drug content, some strong language, suggestive references and smoking.” Running time: 146 minutes. Two stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Online: https://www.iwannadancewithsomebody.movie

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ on Netflix, a Flatline Biopic of a GOAT Who Deserves Better

Where to stream:.

• I Wanna Dance with Somebody
• whitney houston

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This week on This Week in Biopics is Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (now on Netflix, in addition to VOD streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video ), which casts Naomie Ackie as the wildly talented, popular and tragic pop singer. It has the potential to be a star-making role for Ackie, who we saw in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker , and will see next in Mickey 17 , Bong Joon-ho’s hotly anticipated follow-up to Parasite . But it also might be a thankless role, considering the following: One, the ubiquitousness of the subject. Two, the tragic arc of the singer’s life, which deserves more than a rote Behind the Music treatment. And three, the state of the biopic, especially the music biopic, in 2023; it’s pretty much dead these days, at least creatively. Harriet and Eve’s Bayou director Kasi Lemmons tries to get her arms around Whitney here, but it’s a frankly difficult task.

WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: We open in 1994. Whitney warms up her voice for a performance at the American Music Awards. But this isn’t really where we open – we soon jump all the way back to 1983, destroying any hope that the movie might be brave enough not to try encompassing 30 years in a person’s life in just under two-and-a-half hours. Whitney’s about 20 years old, letting rip, leading the church choir. Afterward, her mother Cissy (Tamara Tunie) cracks the whip: Enunciate! Know the melody inside and out! Cissy knows what she’s doing – she’s had a long career as a singer, and currently employs Whitney as a backup vocalist for club gigs. One night, Cissy spots superstar record exec Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci) in the crowd, forces Whitney to fly solo on ‘The Greatest Love of All,’ and history is made.

As Clive takes Whitney under her wing, her romance with Robyn (Nafessa Williams) is strained – to hear Whitney’s dad John (Clarke Peters) say it, you can’t be America’s Pop Star Sweetheart and be seen relationshipping around with another girl. She and Robyn duke it out a bit but decide to just be friends, with Robyn working as her personal assistant, and it works. Clive pops songwriter-demo cassettes – click, whirr, ch-chunk – and Whitney picks the “great big songs.” Then Whitney sings on Merv Griffin. Whitney sings in the studio. Whitney shoots a music video. Whitney hears her song on the radio and flips the eff out. Whitney sings in front of packed arenas. Whitney gets a bottle of Dom Perignon from Clive for every no. 1 hit, and she lines up seven of them. Whitney moves into a gigantic mansion. Whitney’s dad takes control of managing the business, which smells like a bad idea. Whitney is only 23. 

It continues, but this stuff isn’t always so rosy. Whitney claps back at a radio DJ who accuses her of “not being black enough.” Whitney argues with her father. Whitney tells Clive, “I wanna do a movie.” Whitney does cocaine. Whitney meets Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders). Whitney sings the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Whitney shoots The Bodyguard . Whitney sings in South Africa to honor Nelson Mandela. Whitney and Bobby get married even though he’s nothin’ but trouble. Whitney has a baby, I think – I glanced down for a sec, and all this stuff was just coming so fast. OK, I double checked: Whitney has a baby. Whitney gets less and less happy as the years go by. Whitney smokes crack. Whitney fights with Bobby. Whitney looks at the books, and her dad has been blowing money like crazy. Whitney has some rough live gigs. Whitney talks with Clive, who’s kind of her confidant. It continues like this, until it doesn’t. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: On the music-biopic scale, I Wanna Dance isn’t as nutty as Elvis , as cruddy as Bohemian Rhapsody , or as rousing as Ray . It’s about on par with middling Aretha Franklin bio Respect or The United States vs. Billie Holiday .

Performance Worth Watching: Unlike Austin Butler in Elvis or Jennifer Hudson in Respect , Ackie doesn’t actually sing here, but lip-syncs the heck out of ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘Greatest Love of All’ and all the other hits – which isn’t a knock on her, since nobody before or since Whitney did or ever will sing like Whitney. Ackie shows considerable actorly acumen, although she’s hampered by a screenplay that tries to do way too much. 

Memorable Dialogue: Whitney gets righteous and confident:

Whitney: That’s what they want – America’s sweetheart.

Robyn: And you’re gonna give it to ’em?

Whitney: Just watch me.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Dramatized Wikipedia. I Wanna Dance with Somebody covers most every major Whitney life moment – and there are a lot of them – diligently. Some will praise Whitney’s estate for greenlighting an authorized biopic that dares to include her drug use, ugly moments from her marriage to Bobby Brown and sort-of-secret same-sex relationship. Those are facts from her life, and shouldn’t be ignored or glossed over. But Lemmons and screenwriter Anthony McCarten (who penned the similarly unimpressive Bohemian Rhapsody ) never get to the truth about Whitney, piecing together one scene after another after another, as if following a timeline instead of an emotionally engaging dramatic arc. It’s like writing a pop song with lyrics, melody and rhythm, but without a hook. 

This isn’t to say the film is unwatchable. It’s perfectly watchable, but disappointingly in line with ancient music-bio formulae: Elated highs, histrionic lows, montages and, of course, musical performances, which feel perfunctory when they should be electrifying. The dialogue is an awkward blend of exposition and sloganeering: “Every song is a story. If it’s not a story, it’s not a song,” “Remember: Head, heart, gut,” “I just wanna sing.” The depiction of Clive Davis – a credited producer – borders on saintly, and the rest of the supporting characters are rendered too thin to be memorable, even bad boy Bobby Brown. The tempo is choppy, the narrative full of abrupt transitions lacking the connective tissue to properly orient us in terms of setting or the emotional state of our protagonist – one moment she’s confident, and the next, she’s lugubrious.  

So the film follows Whitney’s slide from the top of the world into a depressive state. But why? Drug addiction? Public scrutiny? The high-pressure music business? Her failed marriage? Mental illness? Again, these are all things that happen, but the film is so busy covering all the bases like a historical documentary, it fails to truly address the substance of her character. There’s no arguing that Whitney was an all-timer, a generational talent (an assertion reiterated so frequently in the dialogue, it becomes grating). She’s one of the GOATs – and she surely deserves more than just a baseline-watchable biopic. 

Our Call: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is dutiful at best, but it never pops. SKIP IT. 

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

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I wanna feel the HEAT … but I don’t.   

On the contrary, the animatronic new Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” left me shivering from a gust of arctic air as it so clinically and lazily examines the tragic life of the famous singer.

I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY

Running time: 146 minutes. Rated PG-13. In theaters Dec. 23.

The incomparable Houston, who died in 2012 at the Beverly Hilton hotel of an accidental drowning caused by drug use , deserves a real cinematic movie — not this cheap filler you would have found on basic cable in 1998.

Naomi Ackie plays Houston starting from her early days in 1980s New Jersey as the promising teen daughter of Cissy Houston (Tamara Tunie), who is fatefully discovered by mega-producer Clive Davis (who is also, as it happens, a producer of this film) and soon becomes an international superstar with seven straight No. 1 hits — one more than The Beatles. In the end, we watch as she succumbs to hard drugs in order to shield herself from the pressures of fame and family. She died at just 48 years old.

Oddly, Davis (Stanley Tucci) is a much bigger character than Houston’s volatile husband Bobby Brown (the usually excellent Ashton Sanders in a static part) and mom Cissy. Audiences won’t show up expecting a Whitney/Clive two-hander, but that’s basically what they get. 

The film also wades into later revelations that Houston was secretly bisexual . Early on as a rebel who refuses to wear dresses, she makes out with her best friend Robyn Crawford, played dweebishly by Nafessa Williams. The pair move in together, though the movie steers clear of the bedroom.

As their relationship intensifies and Whitney wants to employ Robyn, she’s told by her father and manager John — portrayed with the subtlety of the alien from “Alien” by Clarke Peters — “You want my blessing? Go out on dates — with young men.”

Although offended, Whitney does as she’s instructed, which leads to an unintentionally hilarious scene in which Robyn shouts, “You slept with Jermaine Jackson?!?” and then smashes plates like a dry-run of a Greek wedding.

Even though her sexuality is depicted, kinda, the movie drops the issue quickly, either because the filmmakers didn’t know how to handle it from there or the estate preferred to keep things approachably vague.

Same goes for Houston’s drug use. The movie never makes it clear when she first started using cocaine or at what point it became a problem. Who initially gave it to her? You won’t find out here. Out of nowhere, she’s suddenly a shaky and erratic addict.

Maybe the filmmakers figured the audience wouldn’t want to confront any of those tough topics for too long. So instead, they go gangbusters on the songs.

Several numbers are, in a dumb move, re-created from start to finish. Every second of “Greatest Love of All,” along with her renditions of “Home” on “The Merv Griffin Show,” “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” on Oprah and her medley of “Porgy and Bess” and “Dreamgirls” at the 1994 American Music Awards, make the cut. That’s about 20 minutes of screen time for those four tunes alone. Plus, we experience bits of the title track, “I Will Always Love You,” her performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl and more.

This movie feels endless.

Many of the musical sequences drag, unfortunately. The vocals are all actually Houston’s, but we never fully believe they’re coming out of Ackie’s mouth, as we did with Austin Butler in “Elvis” this summer, or during the electric “Bohemian Rhapsody” Live Aid scene with Rami Malek. The actress, who doesn’t look much like Houston to begin with, lacks her energy and star power. 

Outside the disappointing musical moments, Ackie gives an acceptable turn … for a character other than Whitney Houston. That divine moment of transubstantiation, in which a performer appears to transform into a beloved icon before our eyes, never happens. It’s little more than a halfway decent impression.

Still, she can only do so much considering Kasi Lemmons’ soft-focus direction (during the songs, all she does is hypnotically pan the camera in semi-circles in front of the stage over and over) and Anthony McCarten’s screenplay that was ghost-written by Siri. 

There’s certainly no art to McCarten’s script, which plays like an abrupt PowerPoint presentation of major events and hit singles coupled with dialogue that makes you dry heave. McCarten, who also wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody,” is everywhere lately. On Broadway, he’s got “A Beautiful Noise,” a musical about Neil Diamond , and the new play “The Collaboration,” about Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He’s the Domino’s Pizza of this lifeless schlock and he guarantees delivery within 30 minutes.

Someday there will be a movie that lives up Houston’s enormous talent, drive and complicated, troubled life. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is not that movie.

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