I was a Whitney fan, although not a fanatical one. I heard all my favorite songs in this film, which is why I went to see it, but some were incomplete, so I wish this would have been done like a Broadway musical, with the songs sung completely from start to finish, with choreography and dancing. It's called "I Want To Dance With Somebody," and Whitney had lots of songs that I remember dancing to. I wish the film would have recreated the party atmosphere Whitney Houston created for her fans. The ballads were mostly done well; some nearly brought me to tears. But "Saving All My Love For You" was not sung in its entirety, which was disappointing. My personal favorite, "The Greatest Love of All, " was sung early in this film as an audition piece for Whitney before she was famous, so this powerful song completely lacked context. I wish it would have been performed when Whitney was trying to beat her drug addiction, when she was a mother, a wife in a volatile marriage, and when she was facing a declining career, bad press, and family who spent huge chunks of her hard earned money. That would have given contextual power to the lyric, "No matter what they take from me, they can't take away my dignity."
Her death was not dramatized, and was dealt with in a vague way. That was a let down, I wanted more detail about what happened to her.
This film was written by the writer of "Bohemian Rhapsody," and they tried to structure it the same way as "Bohemian Rhapsody," ending with a most memorable performance. I never saw the award show that served as the climax of this film, so it was missing the nostalgia factor for me, and the songs she sang at that performance were not my favorites, so the climax was a let down for me, but it may be on point for other Whitney fans. I felt it didn't "capture the magic" as well as the Live Aid scenes in "Bohemian Rhapsody." I never saw "Live Aid," but I left the theater telling my husband that I wanted to see "Bohemian Rhapsody" again, because that final concert scene was so phenomenal. As amazing as Whitney's voice was, this film did not leave me wanting to see it again.
It seems like the topic of race has to be inserted into every film now, and that is annoying. The 1980's and 1990's were great because people weren't obsessed with race like they are now, and music united us all. It was mentioned several times in this movie that Whitney was the first "white-friendly" black performer. This was kind of insulting to whites, and it was also just weird, considering that the movie acknowledges that Michael and Janet Jackson were stars at the same time as Whitney. Michael Jackson had tons of white fans long before Whitney came on the scene. What about Donna Summer and Diana Ross? Lena Horne had the hit "Stormy Weather" which she performed in a musical in 1942, fifty years before Whitney Houston acted in "The Bodyguard" and made "I Will Always Love You" a hit.
I loved the actress who played Whitney, she was very charming and conveyed the power Whitney put into her music.
This film was written by the writer of "Bohemian Rhapsody," and they tried to structure it the same way as "Bohemian Rhapsody," ending with a most memorable performance. I never saw the award show that served as the climax of this film, so it was missing the nostalgia factor for me, and the songs she sang at that performance were not my favorites, so the climax was a let down for me, but it may be on point for other Whitney fans. I felt it didn't "capture the magic" as well as the Live Aid scenes in "Bohemian Rhapsody." I never saw "Live Aid," but I left the theater telling my husband that I wanted to see "Bohemian Rhapsody" again, because that final concert scene was so phenomenal. As amazing as Whitney's voice was, this film did not leave me wanting to see it again.
It seems like the topic of race has to be inserted into every film now, and that is annoying. The 1980's and 1990's were great because people weren't obsessed with race like they are now, and music united us all. It was mentioned several times in this movie that Whitney was the first "white-friendly" black performer. This was kind of insulting to whites, and it was also just weird, considering that the movie acknowledges that Michael and Janet Jackson were stars at the same time as Whitney. Michael Jackson had tons of white fans long before Whitney came on the scene. What about Donna Summer and Diana Ross? Lena Horne had the hit "Stormy Weather" which she performed in a musical in 1942, fifty years before Whitney Houston acted in "The Bodyguard" and made "I Will Always Love You" a hit.
I loved the actress who played Whitney, she was very charming and conveyed the power Whitney put into her music.