While biographical films about famous musicians have been getting made for decades, the subgenre has seen a spike in popularity over the past few years thanks to the success of films like Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, Straight Outta Compton, and Elvis. While some musician biopics like the Aretha Franklin film Respect attempt to show the “untold story” of the artist’s career, more comedic projects like Weird: The Al Yankovic Story are hilariously inaccurate to their star’s actual life. There is an obvious draw for average moviegoers, as anyone familiar with a famous artist’s music is likely to be interested in their life story and seeing them perform on the big screen. Of course, there are few voices in music history that rival Whitney Houston.
Directed by Eve’s Bayou filmmaker Kasi Lemmons, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody stars breakout performer Naomi Ackie as the top-selling female vocalist in history. Rather than pinning her story down to a narrow amount of time, I Wanna Dance With Somebody tells Houston’s entire life story from her early days singing with her mother, Cissy (Tamara Tunie), to the days before her tragic death in 2012. Houston wasn’t just a legend to music fans, but a cinematic icon as well. As the film shows, she co-starred with Kevin Costner in the romantic classic The Bodyguard, which earned her a record-breaking eight wins for the most American Music Awards won in a single year.
At 146 minutes, I Wanna Dance With Somebody is an exhaustive study of the highs and lows of Houston’s career. While supporting performances by Stanley Tucci as her lifelong manager Clive Davis, Ashton Sanders as her husband Bobby Brown, Clarke Peters as her father John, and Nafessa Williams as her manager and lover Robyn Crawford are all terrific, its Ackie’s star-making performance that is likely to draw in audiences, and potentially award season voters. Although the film is earnest and well-intended, it’s not an entirely accurate depiction of Houston’s life.
Whitney’s Origins
The film begins with an early scene where a young Whitney performs at the Sweetwaters club in place of her mother, who claims to be suffering from a last-minute illness. Whitney’s phenomenal performance earns her the attention of Davis, who immediately offers her a contract to produce albums. While this is essentially accurate, Davis said that Houston was already set to perform two songs in the middle of her mother’s act, and did not give an impromptu performance.
However, the film accurately depicts the balance of their relationship; unlike most producers in music biopics, Davis is loyal to Houston throughout her career. Davis also mentions to Whitney that he is bisexual, which he revealed to be true in his 2013 memoir The Soundtrack of My Life.
Whitney’s Relationships
A significant portion of the film is dedicated to Whitney’s relationship with her manager, best friend, and frequent lover Robyn Crawford; Crawford’s 2019 memoir A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston confirmed a lot of the rumors about their intimate relationship that had been lingering in tabloids for years. As the film shows, Robyn and Whitney met when the former was in college and Whitney was paving the way to her future stardom. The film also accurately depicts the pressure the couple was under from Whitney’s parents; her father ordered her to “be seen out with men” to protect her image, and her mother later tried to have Robyn fired.
Although both Whitney and Robyn denied the rumors in the 1980s due to press scrutiny, Whitney’s husband Bobby Brown later said that Whitney would have been able to work through her drug addiction issues if Robyn had been there to help her, as “she didn't have close friends with her anymore” during the months before her death.
Whitney, Bobby Brown, and Social Controversies
As the film shows, Whitney met her future husband Bobby Brown at the Soul Train Music Awards in 1989; while Bobby stated that their initial interaction was more comedic, the film shows a more sensitive side when he offers her words of support after she loses an award to Anita Baker. However, the film accurately shows that when Houston’s name was called, the audience initially booed due to criticisms she had received from the black community that she was a “sellout” whose music “wasn’t black enough.”
The film also confirms rumors that Whitney and Bobby had a volatile relationship that he described as a “codependency.” Prior to their divorce in 2006, Whitney and Bobby were constantly under the influence of drugs, and both suffered from serious addiction issues. As the film shows, Bobby was arrested in December 2003 for domestic violence after striking his wife. This impacted their relationship with their daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown (Bria Danielle Singleton). However, Bobbi would later become very close with her mother up until her iconic performance at the "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" at the 2009 American Music Awards.
The film accurately shows the circumstances surrounding their divorce; while Bobby received media criticism for “corrupting” Whitney with drugs after she was admitted to rehab, personal accounts from Whitney’s friends confirmed she had suffered from addiction issues prior to their marriage. In the film, Whitney and Bobby make peace during their divorce when she tells him that the “drugs were there” before they met.
Whitney’s Later Life Struggles
One of the more complex characters in the film is John, who despite truly seeming to care about his daughter’s success, maintained tight control over her finances. Prior to his daughter’s stardom, John had an independent music production business and helped manage his wife, Cissy, before their divorce in 1990. The film alludes to the serious mismanagement of Whitney’s funds by her father, which did spark a lawsuit claiming that Whitney didn’t pay her father’s company $100 million for their services.
Although the film shows that John’s corruption had begun since the earlier stages of his daughter’s career, Whitney said on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009 that her father had been corrupted by those in his company, and that his failing health had made him easy to influence. Her interview also confirms the accuracy of a moment where Whitney meets her father in the hospital shortly before his death in 2003; she ends their financial agreement but forgives him.
Whitney’s Death and Legacy
Given that Whintey Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody is the only biopic to get the official support of the Houston family, the film does intimately show the abuse and addiction that plagued Houston up until her death. The film includes a moment where Davis tells her that her voice is suffering due to drug abuse, which a family source confirmed. As the film shows, Whitney delivered her last performance with Kelly Price in California before she was found dead in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton. It was confirmed by police reports that she died of drowning in a bathtub while under the influence.