Whitney Houston’s first official big-screen biopic ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ helmed by Harriet-director Kasi Lemmons, didn’t quite make huge waves with the masses – as one had expected, when the movie was first announced in 2020. Even though it was a celebratory moment for her hardcore fans, it didn’t reach audiences beyond that.
The film took nearly 2 years in the making, and with Houston’s brand attached to it – promised to be a mass-crowd puller. But when the moment of truth arrived in the holiday weekend of 2022, the film succumbed to negative reviews, despite being quite an entertainer.
Made on a budget of $45 million, the estate-approved film managed to gross roughly $60 million at the box office – wrapping-up within 2 to 3 times lesser collections than what was expected.
But it wasn’t just factors like – Winter Storm Elliott, Christmas holidays or the release of Avatar 2 that contributed to the film’s disappointing numbers, but the movie’s word of mouth wasn’t strong enough to defy the reviews, and we explore here, why.
Even though the film featured a standout performance from Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston and a few moments in the second half that really do cut-deep, as you want them to, it fell short in depicting the rawness of Houston’s talent or her not-so-princessly life story.
Here are 4 areas in which the film lacked:
1) Shining light on the complexity of Houston’s talent – Whitney Houston was one of the most formidable forces in music, and it wasn’t just a big voice and technical finesse that made her stand out. Because if that was the case, plenty of church-trained girls across the country, could have entered the ring with her.
The film completely missed showing the on-stage and in-studio genius of Whitney, as someone who did her own vocal arrangements or heavily improvised her live performances and adlibbed with her band, showcasing her spontaneity and grittiness way beyond the ‘Pop-likeness’ that was curated for her.
If you want to explore the full potential of the diva’s artistry, you’re better off analyzing the live videos available on YouTube, because this film did no justice to elaborate the intricacies of her talent in the way that Baz Luhrmann and Austin Butler did with ‘Elvis’.
The film does not flesh out well-documented studio moments, like when her voice struggled because of the substance abuse, and she still managed to surprise the composers by recording in a single take. A missed opportunity right here, to create a profound cinematic moment showing the amalgamation of her personal tribulation with her artistic gifts.
Or the fact that she co-composed the entire Preacher’s Wife soundtrack album, one of her best albums in terms of production and orchestration. Or her input relating to the vocal and musical production elsewhere and how it was crucial in the creation of so many songs in the studio.
2) Better/Shorter Performances – It seems those behind the film, wanted an easy way out, when it came to licensing audio or footage to be used in the film, as a lot of what was shown here was already heard or seen in the singer’s 2014-released posthumous live-album. The film did not explore her impromptu on-stage moments, which aren’t necessarily her most famous ones.
The film could have also done with shortening the length of some of the songs, or at least amalgamating them with flashbacks to her personal life, giving more depth to the progression of the narrative, than simply moving from one song to another.
It did not have to feature nearly all her #1’s just to feed the ego of her musical mentor Clive Davis (who also served as one of the executive producers of the film), but could have ventured astray into her lesser known live moments – that showcased her grittiness as a 100% live performer.
3) It’s hard-hitting, but could still hit harder – Whitney Houston’s descent from the top was one of the most tragic sights in Pop music, but the details of what has already been shared about her personal life, as she struggled publicly with it, was not explored fully in this film.
There were still some emotionally overwhelming moments, like her daughter Bobbi Kristina looking at her as she is escorted by cops in the car, following her mother Cissy Houston’s court junction or the moment she breaks down in front of Clive while speaking about the things her young daughter has to see on tour. Those scenes really do cut deep. But they just weren’t enough or were too abruptly put together.
The movie did not cut as deep with more gritty moments like Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It. It safely treaded past the abusive nature of her marriage — with the evil-eyes painted on her walls, or her face torn-off all the pictures by her then husband Bobby Brown, or the fact that he once spat on her face – all details that were once shared by Houston herself.
The narrative did not dare to go darker, which would have certainly enhanced it’s cinematic appeal.
The film also does not go deeper into her psyche, to make the viewers understand how she consistently lost the battle with her addiction and how even in the deepest pits of her drug-induced state, she clung to her faith and the power of prayer.
These moments, albeit dark, were essential to establish a more empathetic undertone to the film.
4) The cinematography and sound – There was nothing groundbreaking about the film’s cinematography, which reeked of so much potential when it came to projecting those live shows and moments.
There weren’t enough sweaty close-ups, or dynamic shots moving the cameras from different angles of the stage, capturing the awe-struck reactions of her band, background singers or even those in the audience.
But this also points to a lack in vision on part of the director, who put together these scenes pretty robotically. As fun as they were to watch and listen, because of Naomi lip-syncing for her life and Houston’s soaring vocals, the scenes lacked direction and an artistic cinematic approach and sophisticated technicality expected from a project of this scale.
Even though the film was one of the most entertaining theatrical experiences of 2022, it would have been great if it wasn’t reduced to just that, as it seemed to have reduced and undermined the talents and story of one of the greatest divas in Pop, R&B and Soul, by only superficially scratching the surface.