4.0 out of 5 star rating<\/span> <\/span> <\/div> <\/div> \u201cShe is the true heartbeat of America,\u201d announces one reporter in I Wanna Dance with Somebody, a biopic of tragic pop princess Whitney Houston. Starring British actress Naomi Ackie (The End of the F***ing World) as Houston, the film traces her rise to become this beloved, if sometimes controversial, heartbeat. The six-times Grammy winner and only artist ever to have seven consecutive number one singles on the US Billboard Top 100, beating The Beatles and Elvis Presley, Houston surely merits the big-screen treatment.<\/p>\n
It begins in earnest in New Jersey when her gospel singer mother Cissy Houston (Tamara Tunie) is schooling her in how to feel a melody. The time is 1983, and before long, she\u2019s opening for her mother in Sweetwater\u2019s, a club in New York City, singing The Greatest Love of All, a song she will ultimately take to the top of the charts. Attending is Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci), the founder of Arista Records. \u201cI think I might have just heard the greatest voice of a generation,\u201d he says, with not a shred of exaggeration.<\/p>
The relationship between Houston and Davis is one of the film\u2019s more touching elements; he says he has no interest in interfering in her private life and it\u2019s heartening to see a portrayal of a music exec that doesn\u2019t revolve around ego or exploitation. Houston\u2019s other significant early relationship comes with Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams), a friend who becomes a lover and then an assistant, as Houston is advised to be seen in public with men.<\/p>\n
Those who have seen the documentaries by Nick Broomfield (Whitney: Can I Be Me) and Kevin Macdonald (Whitney) will know what came next. After her early highs, culminating in working with Kevin Costner on 1992 hit movie The Bodyguard, Houston\u2019s marriage to singer Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders), the mismanagement of her finances by her father John (Clarke Peters) and an increasing addiction to drugs all contribute to her demise.<\/p>\n
This being rated 12A in the UK, you can expect a rather coy take on the seedier side of Houston\u2019s life. Scenes of drug-taking are brief: whether it\u2019s smoking marijuana or taking something stronger, the camera remains a discreet observer. Nonetheless, director Kasi Lemmons (Harriet) does enough to hint at Houston\u2019s substance abuse issues that would ultimately contribute to her early death, aged just 48. One scene, as the police arrest her whilst she\u2019s high and her young daughter looks on, is particularly upsetting.<\/p>\n