The biopic genre, and specifically the musician biopic, has become fairly standardized over time. Similar to romantic comedies, so many of them have similar tones and story structure. It takes something unique or special to stand out from the crowd, lest the movie be seen as boring or predictable or offering nothing new to the subject’s life story.
You can go the route of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and make it a spoof on biopics while dabbling in the truth. Or like Elvis, you go full force with director Baz Luhrmann’s eccentric style and an electric star-making performance from Austin Butler. Then there’s Rocketman, which chose to go the more fantastical route.
And that brings us to I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Telling the life and career story of Whitney Houston, arguably the greatest singer to ever live, it would have to come up with something pretty special to do her story justice, right? As it turns out, not so much. At least not in the way you might think.
At its core, I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a formulaic biopic story. It has all the similar beats that you’ve come to expect from this kind of movie. It doesn’t really serve up anything new to Houston’s story. But to the latter point, why does that matter? How often is there actually anything new to add? Especially in this day and age, when we already know so much about celebrities’ upbringing and personal lives. At that point, you have to take the story you have, and tell it as effectively as you can. And that’s what this movie does.
I Wanna Dance with Somebody starts off with Houston’s early years singing in the church choir, under the tutelage of her mother Cissy (Tamara Tunie), a successful and highly respected musician in her own right. At a performance one night, Cissy notices super producer Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci) in the crowd has Whitney sing the opening solo. Davis immediately recognizes Whitney’s immense talent and potential. He quickly signs her to a record deal, and it’s off to the races.
The rest of the movie plays out pretty much exactly as you would expect it to, whether you know Houston’s story or not. But I think it found freedom in that. There was no pressure to shine a light on some recently discovered secret. There was no barely-covered aspect of her life the public was demanding more insight into. The movie could just focus on telling her story the way it wanted to tell it. As much as I loved most of how the story was told, the depiction of Houston’s struggles is where it slightly faltered, keeping it from reaching even greater heights.
Director Kasi Lemmons and writer Anthony McCarten had a clear vision for how they wanted to portray Houston. Her struggles, be they drugs, domestic issues, or anything else, were under constant public scrutiny. They played a huge part in tearing her down, and in her tragic and far-too-early passing. But these moments get minimal attention compared to everything else. It’s not that I Wanna Dance with Somebody should have been a depressing downer of a movie speaking to the evils of drugs, and how celebrity culture is a breeding ground for parasites only seeking to bleed you dry for their own benefit.
But with how critical these struggles were to her complete story, there was very little setup for them, and they were explored with minimal depth. It’s apparent Lemmons and McCarten wanted to treat Houston with some level of delicacy and respect. And I like that. The fact that she used drugs doesn’t make her a bad person, nor does her choosing to stay with her toxic husband. But they add a certain level of complexity to Whitney Houston the person, and in turn Whitney Houston the movie character. Just a little bit more of the “why” of it all could have gone a long way.
And that – finally – brings us to Naomi Ackie. Oh my goodness. She completely dominates this movie. Incredible, star-making, any positive adjective you want to use to describe her, it’s going to fit. And it’s by sheer force of her acting prowess that the depictions of Houston’s struggles are effective at all. There was nothing really in the script to guide her performance in these moments to anything more than what was on the page.
The only knock I have against Ackie is that she doesn’t actually do the singing. Remastered versions of Whitney Houston herself were used. And that almost makes it unfair to hold it against Ackie at all. If you ask me, Houston has the single greatest voice of all time. Why wouldn’t you use that voice if given the chance? But maybe it’s a blessing in disguise, as it allowed Ackie to focus on channeling Houston’s essence and charisma that helped make her such a star and icon.
It’s maybe ironic, then, that some of Ackie’s best moments come when the movie is recreating some of Houston’s iconic performances. The Super Bowl XXV National Anthem (in the discussion for the greatest rendition ever), the “impossible medley” at the 1994 American Music Awards (worth the full 10 minutes). On the set of the “How Will I Know” music video. And the script gives her plenty of opportunities to show off, with no shortage of other concerts mixed in throughout the film.
I get that this movie won’t be for everyone. It’s understandable if you can’t look past how similar it is to other biopics. But if you can give yourself in to Ackie’s charisma, and lose yourself in seeing some of Whitney Houston’s greatest hits and biggest moments being recreated, you’re in for a real treat.
Score: 92/100
