Starring Naomie Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Ashton Sanders, and Tamara Tunie
Directed by Kasi Lemmons
Music and Lyrics by various
First of all...this is my last week of regular reviews. After February 28th, my musical reviews will default to occasional shorter blurbs on my regular Welcome to the Riverside Rest blog. I still love musicals, but with a second job and other things I need to get done, I don't have the time for long reviews anymore. Musical Dreams Movie Reviews will stay up for all to read, but it won't be updated anymore.
Now that the announcements are out of the way, onto the review. After Houston's untimely death in 2012, ideas for a film biography were tossed around. A TV film debuted on Lifetime in 2015, but while it was well-received, it mostly focused on her relationship with Bobby Brown. The movie they finally came up with in 2020 focused on her entire life, from her first major performance in 1983 to her last hours. How does her difficult life look now? Let's start just as pop superstar Whitney Houston (Ackie) is gearing up for the 1994 American Music Awards...and remembering how she began...and find out...
The Story: In 1983, Houston sings in her church choir and lives with her girlfriend Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams). Her mother Cissy (Tunie) groomed her for the choir, but she has bigger plans. She "suddenly" gets laryngitis the day major music producer Clive Davis (Tucci) happens to be in the audience at the nightclub where she sings. Whitney goes on for her, and Davis is so impressed, he gives her a contract to Arista Records.
Whitney's first filmed performance is of "Home" from The Wiz on The Merv Griffith Show later in '83. Her first album debuts in 1985, and it's a sensation. She wants Robyn to be her personal assistant, but her father and manager John (Clarke Peters) encourages her to start dating men. Whitney really takes that to heart and first goes out with Jermaine Jackson (Jaison Hunter), to Robyn's consternation. Though her second album in 1987 is even bigger, it's not enough to dodge criticism that her music isn't "black enough." She quells this by becoming engaged to early rapper Bobby Brown (Sanders) in 1989 after they meet at the 1988 Soul Train Awards.
Whitney's at her peak of popularity in the early and mid-90's, singing "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl and appearing in the smash hit 1993 film The Bodyguard. Her home life isn't going nearly as well. She and Bobby finally marry in 1992, and she has their daughter Bobbi Kristina in March 1993, but Bobby is frequently missing and her father is withholding her assets.
Two attempts at a comeback, in 1998 and 2009, are massive hits...but the subsequent tours after their releases wear out her body and her vocal chords. They're not the only things wrecking havoc on her body, either. She's begun to deal with the pain of her bad marriage and heart by drinking heavily and taking cocaine. John has mismanaged most of her money, too, forcing her into a 100 million dollar contract with Arista. She's so furious with him, she won't go to his funeral. Divorcing Bobby in 2007 does help, but by 2012, she's spiraling into addiction again...this time with fatal consequences...
The Song and Dance: The heavy story is alleviated somewhat by powerhouse performances. Ackie and Sanders are fabulous as Houston and Brown, showing how they fell for each other when they were both stars, only for Brown's ego and both their addictions to come between them. They really did their homework, too. Most of the concerts and music videos look like the real thing. You can almost believe that's Whitney in the candy-splashed "How Will I Know?" music video.
The Numbers: We open with Whitney singing "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah" as her mother gives her a singing lesson for the church choir. We get a brief glimpse of her mother singing "I'll Be There" at a nightclub...before her parents' fight indicate that she's most definitely not around much. Robyn and Whitney dance together - and fall for each other - to the tune of Chakah Khan's "Hot Butterfly." Whitney gets her big break singing "The Greatest Love of All" in place of her mother. She's an even bigger sensation singing "Home" on The Merv Griffith Show.
We next get a montage of Whitney choosing songs for her next album. Among those that make the cut are the ballads "Saving All My Love for You" (which we see Houston recording) and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" She really loves the bouncy "How Will I Know?" Later on, she's even more into "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and has a ball singing it in concert. Bobby sings his hit "My Prerogative" at the Soul Train Awards. Whitney's rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl in 1991 is so impassioned, it becomes an instant legend. After starring in The Bodyguard and singing it at the 1994 Concert for a Free South Africa, she's even more associated with "I Will Always Love You." It even plays under her wedding to Bobby. She has a harder time with "I Have Nothing," even refusing to sing it at one point.
Her recording of "Why Does It Hurt So Bad?" turns into a commentary on her tumultuous relationship with the possessive and egotistical Bobby. "It's Not Right, But It's Okay" launches her 1998 comeback. The single isn't released, but the album is a hit. She does a fabulous "I'm Every Woman" and "I'm Your Baby Tonight" in a montage on tour, which finishes with "One Moment In Time." Her surprise rendition of "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" on The Oprah Winfrey Show launched her second comeback in 2009. We end on a positive note with her sensational medley of "I Loves You Porgy," "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," and "I Have Nothing" at the 1994 American Music Awards.
What I Don't Like: First of all, not all of this is historically accurate. For one thing, she recorded "The Greatest Love of All" for her 1985 debut album and never sang it at a club. She also had a career as a model before she started singing that isn't really discussed here. (She was one of the first black models to appear on the cover of Seventeen Magazine in 1981.) But then again, this movie is long and slow enough as it is. Some of the depressing ending could have been trimmed with no one the wiser. It's also dripping with typical biographical film cliches, up to and including that upbeat ending at the American Music Awards.
The Big Finale: Worth checking out if you're a fan of Houston and have time on your hands.
Home Media: Easily found in all formats.
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