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Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody Reviews

Ever so tidy, tying up loose ends that many Houston fans and onlookers likely wondered about in her final years and beyond. The resolutions did not always feel genuine, however, and at times seemed quite rushed.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 10, 2024

It's miraculous that a movie penned by the screenwriter of Bohemian Rhapsody would be worth watching, but Kasi Lemmons continues to prove she is a highly versatile filmmaker/actor whose imprint on cinema will be felt for decades to come.

| Original Score: A | Mar 6, 2024

It wasn’t gay enough, but that it was gay at all gives me hope we’ll get this part of her story done right some day.

| Feb 13, 2024

I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a disservice to the memory of Whitney Houston. Make a playlist, watch videos, dance to her music. That’s a better way to remember her.

| Sep 6, 2023

“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” has broad, nostalgic appeal – because who doesn’t want to take a break and listen to Whitney’s greatest hits for two-plus hours with period-perfect re-creations of music videos and performances?

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 16, 2023

You get the sense that someone handed screenwriter Anthony McCarten (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) a studio note that simply read, “Play the hits.”

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 9, 2023

This one is far from being the best biopic I’ve seen, despite the cast's committed performances. Glad they opted to use Houston's real voice, as it would be impossible to imitate THAT.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 8, 2023

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.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 2, 2023

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

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Feb 21, 2023

... It lacks the necessary intensity that the portrait of one of the most emblematic singers of the 90s, considered "The Voice" of an entire generation, deserved. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/10 | Feb 9, 2023

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]

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 9, 2023

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]

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 9, 2023

Lemmons and screenwriter Anthony McCarten never get to the truth about Whitney, piecing together one scene after another after another... like writing a pop song with lyrics, melody and rhythm, but without a hook.

| Feb 8, 2023

... Covers the life and work of the late artist in autopilot, embracing each and every cliché of the genre. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 8, 2023

The story is good but the musical numbers are amazing.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 3, 2023

As good as Ackie was, the final moments of the film for anyone who has seen the 1994 American Music Awards love medley only highlights the distance between her and Whitney...

| Jan 30, 2023

Content with staying in expected territory... makes for a rousing yet routine addition to the music biopic canon.

| Jan 26, 2023

There’s never a false note in Naomi Ackie’s performance...it feels effortless, avoiding any sense of imitation, she fully inhabits the role...Ackie really sells it, as she lip syncs for her life, capturing Whitney’s on-stage presence, passion, and spirit.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 16, 2023

It’s just completely mediocre and not worth your time.

| Original Score: 3/10 | Jan 13, 2023

I Wanna Dance with Somebody breaks my cardinal rule of biopics that I have mentioned time and time again. It tells too big of a story without getting specific about anything.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 11, 2023

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