It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say Whitney Houston is one of the greatest singers of all time — a household name in both the US and worldwide, a legendary woman, monumental, inspiring, and just about any other highest praise there is for a mortal being. Houston may have passed on, but she lives in the people’s hearts through her music, and her legacy carries on to this day. Like all the great legends, she’s got a tale to tell, and the creative workers transform it into a cinematic piece for all to admire called I Wanna Dance with Somebody, a direct reference to the title of her hit song.
Upon its first announcement, the musical biopic received a passionate response from the public — its release right before Christmas Eve, however, not so much. The targeted projection was for the movie to earn $12 to $15 million during its first four-day run, only to reach half of it during the execution. As the days turn into weeks and now a month, the total is now at $56.5 million, an incommensurate amount considering the approximately $45 mil budget.
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But of course, the box office is no proper measure of a picture’s success. However, it does reflect the audience’s interest, or in this case, the lack thereof. The cause for the low number can’t entirely be pegged on the resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak because apparently, people would risk virus infections to watch fellow the now-showing mate and competitor Avatar: The Way of Water, given how it has approached the $2 billion milestone. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it would appear that I Wanna Dance with Somebody is just not appealing enough for the audience, which is strange considering how fervent the pre-release response was and prominent of an icon the singer is (and in no way less iconic than James Cameron’s blue creatures). So, the question is: what’s the problem with this Houston film?
It Has a Rigid Narrative
Sony Pictures
The narrative is the heart of any motion picture. If unstable, the cinematic dynamic would break down, which, unfortunately, is the case for this film. Whitney Houston’s biopic tells about, well, her life, chronologically — which would’ve been perfectly acceptable had the filmmakers united all of her historical events into one proper story. Instead, it felt like they gathered the most momentous chunks of Houston’s history and simply placed them one after another in order of time. The beginning allows us to see her as a youthful lady with a golden singing voice, which helped her land a record contract and turned her into an instant sensation in the music industry. Yet fame holds weight that cannot be easily dismissed. Because of her parents’ strong disapproval of her relationship with a woman, Houston gave in to the pressure, slept with a man, broke up with her lover, and formed a friendship with her now ex-girlfriend, all of which transpired abruptly in a brief period.
Several montages of her enjoying success later, we’re brought into a quick change of pace with plentiful music sequences, where Houston met criticism, Bobby Brown, the Super Bowl stage, a movie deal, miscarriage, a dear daughter, and drugs. As predicted, the last one impacted her career negatively, but the portrayed decline, too, was jam-packed with a series of events, including the feud with her father and his death. The rehab, divorce, and Oprah show occurred shortly afterward. However, the pace does slow down near the end for moments before Houston’s demise, and for once, it successfully illustrates the reverence of the situation. In conclusion, the report-like storytelling is not as seamless and ultimately doesn’t capture the real essence of Houston’s life story, eventually resulting in lukewarm reception from the audience.
Downplayed Portrayal of Issues
Despite its 144-minute runtime, the film fails to depict the depth of the issues Houston underwent throughout her career. For instance, after the whole parental objection debacle, the singer’s romance with Robyn Crawford is buried completely as if the love between the two women never happened, and the relationship they had was platonic from the start. This downplaying is quite a shame, for queerness is a pressing topic in need of better representation — an achievable feat in the medium involving a woman as influential as Houston.
Then, there’s another touched, albeit not fully explored, issue: race. The one where Houston claps back at the notorious yet preposterous accusation saying she’s “not Black enough” in a radio program is truly one of the best scenes. Yet, as might be expected, the problem doesn’t just disappear after her defense. In fact, she was called an even worse name. Alas, the closure for that particular matter is her venturing into R&B, a music genre that’s closely associated with the African-American community, which, in a sense, sends the wrong message that one better blindly succumbs to conformity for the sake of standard fulfillment — once again, a critical concern at present. As we all know, relatability is all the rage in this prevailing age, especially when it traces back to a phenomenal figure like Houston. However, the reality is the creators of I Wanna Dance with Somebody failed to develop issues that are bound to resonate best with today’s audience, consequently, missed the opportunity to draw viewers’ interest.
Nevertheless, the picture still has a few upsides, with the biggest one being Naomi Ackie as Houston since she was practically the embodiment of the pop diva and executed the character impeccably. Stanley Tucci’s performance as Clive Davis, Houston’s record producer, was met with critical acclaim too. Having two capable actors thankfully compensates for the various flaws mentioned above, which hopefully shall be a valuable note for the filmmakers to not repeat the same mistake in the future.
