Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY is like the SparkNotes of [Houston's] life, a smattering of collected moments that feel hollow.

It is a celebration of her too-short, spectacular career but it does not ignore her drug use, her sexual relationship with Crawford, her tempestuous marriage, and her concert disasters.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody plays by the rules of the TV movie to efficient, if scarcely groundbreaking, effect. It will change no minds about Whitney Houston.

Instead of utilizing the biopic genre to reveal Houston’s deeper emotionality, experiences, and relationships, the movie often feels as though one is merely watching characters walk through a summary of her major live events

This doggedly formulaic picture struggles to capture even a fraction of the electrifying sparkle of Houston at the peak of her powers.

Naomi Ackie acts and lip-synchs her heart out as the longbird legend, but Whitney deserved a much better movie than this patchwork, cobbled-together biopic that barely skims the professional highs and personal lows that made up her tragically short life.

Whitney Houston fans won't want to miss this combo pack revealing glimpses of the person behind the star. A must-have for any true fan.

Like in a musical, I Wanna Dance with Somebody links triumphs and failures to songs, yet it doesn't amount to more than a superficial and decaffeinated story about the winner of 411 awards... [Full review in Spanish]

I Want to Dance With Somebody exposes its protagonist's descent, but never really asks what led to this unexpected and abrupt end... [Full review in Spanish]

But, and in I Want to Dance With Somebody there is more than one 'but', everything or almost everything gets lost, it vanishes, blurs. [Full review in Spanish]