A joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, one of the greatest female R&B pop vocalists of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musi... Read allA joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, one of the greatest female R&B pop vocalists of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musical super stardom.A joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, one of the greatest female R&B pop vocalists of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musical super stardom.
- Awards
- 1 win & 7 nominations
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhitney Houston's voice is used for 95% of the singing.
- Quotes
Clive Davis: Would you be willing to postpone your wedding to make a movie?
[Hands over a script]
Whitney Houston: The Bodyguard ? What's it about ?
Clive Davis: A world-famous singer and her difficult relationship with her bodyguard.
Whitney Houston: [Tosses script into a trash bin, then pauses] Who's the bodyguard ?
Clive Davis: Kevin Costner.
[Whitney Houston quickly reaches down and retrieves the script]
- SoundtracksI Believe in You and Me
Written by Sandy Linzer & David Wolfert
Performed by Whitney Houston
Courtesy of Arista Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment
This is a movie that puts Whitney's career front and center, with a special emphasis on her relationship with Arista records founder Clive Davis. Stanley Tucci makes for an impressively spot-on Davis, although perhaps his portrayal is a bit too reverent. The scene where he confronted her over her spiraling drug addiction was tough to watch. I appreciated the lack of cheap psychological gimmicks to explain away her troubles.
Whitney's important, long-lasting lesbian relationship with creative director Robyn Crawford is finally given its fair shake here. Crawford is a deeply fascinating figure in her own right, and their scenes together pop. Apparently, Crawford has written a book on her experiences and I'm very curious to check it out.
The musical highlight is the near superhuman medley of "I Loves You Porgy", "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and "I Have Nothing" from the 1994 American Music Awards. Whitney's original voice is thankfully used for the singing parts, as if any other choice was possible for the greatest vocalist of the 20th century!
Music biopics do seem to bring out a special kind of snobbery and faux-cleverness from critics at times. Were you really not expecting to see Whitney singing in church or signing her first record deal? These are the facts of her life! They are told beautifully and compellingly here.
- tchelitchew
- Dec 28, 2022
- Permalink
- How long is Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Nữ Danh Ca Huyền Thoại
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $45,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $23,708,080
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,700,450
- Dec 25, 2022
- Gross worldwide
- $59,806,881
- Runtime2 hours 24 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1