Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is an inspiring and serves as a celebration of the unparalleled singer extraordinaire Houston. The film, now out on Blu-ray, DVD, and all digital formats, contains Blu-ray exclusive bonus content and an absolute blast that is the “Jukebox Feature,” which allows you to listen (and sing along if you so choose) to Houston’s greatest and timeless hits.
The biopic is directed by Kasi Lemmons, written by Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten (The Two Popes), produced by musical icon—whose day job is a music executive, Clive Davis. Davis discovered Houston and has a hand in launching the careers of everyone from Janis Joplin to Sarah McLaughlin. He also had an incredible run as the head of Arista Records—where he brought on Houston.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody stars BAFTA Award recipient Naomi Ackie (Rising Star Award), the excellent film is a warts-and-all portrayal of the talented and versatile singer, known by many solely as “The Voice.”
Houston came from music royalty. She began as a Newark, New Jersey choir standout (the choir was led by her mother, also a singing legend, Sissy Houston). She is also the cousin of platinum artist Dionne Warren, and her Godmother is the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin. One of the singing prides of the Garden State would become one of the best-selling and most-awarded recording artists of all time (six Grammy Awards, many People Choice Awards, Golden Globe trophies, MTV accolades, and three NAACP Image Awards… for her acting!). Yes, she was multi-faceted. In fact, as the film shows, she was Kevin Costner’s choice for The Bodyguard—one of the biggest hits of that decade. The film shows how she came to select a song for the feature that some would argue is her signature tune, I Will Always Love You.
The film does a stunning job of dissecting a life that accomplished so much before her tragic death at forty-eight. Biopics are difficult. It’s a challenge to tell a story—first and foremost—that captures the person, all while providing a drama that audiences would even watch. That is far from an issue here.
With Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, audiences are taken for an emotional, uplifting, triumphant, and ultimately heartbreaking journey through Houston’s trailblazing life and professional career. Just one of the highlights of the film, sure to get your toes tapping, is the jaw-dropping performances that find Ackie transforming into Houston effortlessly and delivering showstoppers of the singer’s biggest hits as you’ve never heard them before.
The ability for the film to go “inside” the music business, particularly the one that existed when Houston made her first mark, is priceless. Director Lemmons and writer McCarten have done the late artist and her family the ultimate salute with their angel and provided her story the telling it cinematically deserved.
When it comes to extras for the Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody Blu-ray, the first thing brought up on my player was the Jukebox. After hearing two hours of Houston’s greatest songs, one is immediately drawn to hear (and perhaps sing along with the legend) her biggest hits once again.
Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes are a trifecta of shorter features that explore the making of the film. They are pretty standard fare, but appealing, nonetheless.
Moments of an Icon puts a spotlight on several of the more so-called “authentic” scenes from the film, and takes a deeper, more insightful look at those events that inspired those movie moments.
A fascinating bonus feature is Becoming Whitney. This featurette zeroes in on the star of the film—whose work is brilliant and her portrayal doesn’t work, the entire film fails. The bonus feature speaks to how this role is one that should launch her career, specifically what it was about Houston’s life that she thought she could inhabit and relate to, and she details specifically what she did to ready herself to take on an icon… and more importantly, do it justice.
The Personal Touch is a unique bonus feature that we don’t see too often. The featurette finds many of Houston’s friends and family, who add layers to the film’s rich subject.
Film Grade: A
Bonus Features: A