It's a nice movie but it could definitely be better.
Hearing her sing in a movie theater is just plain bizarre. Lots of live vocals in the movie. Just bizarre what Whitney could do on stage. At times, I really stared open-mouthed and I also teared up because her voice is just incredible.
But the film itself is quite superficial in terms of story and the timeline keeps getting mixed up. Some things are wrong, a lot of her story isn't told. The film hops from event to event without really telling much. The historical greatness of some moments is also not really portrayed. And they skipped quite a lot of songs. Personality wise we don't get to see much of Whitney. She's mostly snappy because of Bobby Brown and other people around her, like her father, that only use her. We didn't get to see her other sides. So many people that knew her talked about how much fun she was, how caring, how generous. They also didn't touch anything about all the things she did for children.
The whole story about her as an artist and her musicality didn't go beyond her voice. Of course the best voice ever (unparalleled live vocals as far as I'm concerned) but there was more. How she produced her music. Her sublime stage presence. Being a (fashion) icon. The fact that she broke barriers for dark artists. The influence she has on music in general. The soul and gospel she brought to pop music. Her impact was huge, they didn't really show that.
Naomi does a great job. She got the mannerisms and sometimes when they shot from behind it was as if you saw Whitney. She also managed to speak like Whitney very well. But I didn't think they captured Whitney's stage precence. I'm not sure if that was Naomi's fault. I'd rather say it's something left out in the movie.
Stanley Tucci does a great job as Clive Davis and I don't know why we don't talk about her more, but Tamara Tunie really impressed me as Cissy Houston.
I did like the fact they showed the relationship with Whitney and Robyn Crawford had. We knew it but her estate didn't really want to confirm it.
Another highlight was at the beginning when Cissy noticed Clive Davis was in the audience where she and Whitney would be performing. Cissy faked a soar throat and told Whitney to sing the first solo. This scene, acted wonderfully by Tamara Tunie, just touched me so much. The scene then moves on to Greatest Love Of All. Wonderful and very emotional.
Long story short: A fun movie to watch but it falls short to be a great biopic.
Hearing her sing in a movie theater is just plain bizarre. Lots of live vocals in the movie. Just bizarre what Whitney could do on stage. At times, I really stared open-mouthed and I also teared up because her voice is just incredible.
But the film itself is quite superficial in terms of story and the timeline keeps getting mixed up. Some things are wrong, a lot of her story isn't told. The film hops from event to event without really telling much. The historical greatness of some moments is also not really portrayed. And they skipped quite a lot of songs. Personality wise we don't get to see much of Whitney. She's mostly snappy because of Bobby Brown and other people around her, like her father, that only use her. We didn't get to see her other sides. So many people that knew her talked about how much fun she was, how caring, how generous. They also didn't touch anything about all the things she did for children.
The whole story about her as an artist and her musicality didn't go beyond her voice. Of course the best voice ever (unparalleled live vocals as far as I'm concerned) but there was more. How she produced her music. Her sublime stage presence. Being a (fashion) icon. The fact that she broke barriers for dark artists. The influence she has on music in general. The soul and gospel she brought to pop music. Her impact was huge, they didn't really show that.
Naomi does a great job. She got the mannerisms and sometimes when they shot from behind it was as if you saw Whitney. She also managed to speak like Whitney very well. But I didn't think they captured Whitney's stage precence. I'm not sure if that was Naomi's fault. I'd rather say it's something left out in the movie.
Stanley Tucci does a great job as Clive Davis and I don't know why we don't talk about her more, but Tamara Tunie really impressed me as Cissy Houston.
I did like the fact they showed the relationship with Whitney and Robyn Crawford had. We knew it but her estate didn't really want to confirm it.
Another highlight was at the beginning when Cissy noticed Clive Davis was in the audience where she and Whitney would be performing. Cissy faked a soar throat and told Whitney to sing the first solo. This scene, acted wonderfully by Tamara Tunie, just touched me so much. The scene then moves on to Greatest Love Of All. Wonderful and very emotional.
Long story short: A fun movie to watch but it falls short to be a great biopic.