Whitney Houston, we will always love you: 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' review

MANILA, Philippines — For millions of people around the world, Whitney Houston is considered to be one of the greatest singers of all time, and even after her untimely demise, her numerous ballads carried by a powerful voice cemented her legacy.

Such was the task at hand for director Kasi Lemmons and screenwriter Anthony McCarten for the biopic "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody," to tell the tumultuous life of a singer many called The Voice.

British actress Naomi Ackie portrays Houston from her unknown days in the 1980s, her meteoric rise in the 1990s, and the several stumbles that followed.

Biopics, especially musical biopics, have become all the rage in Hollywood ever since McCarten penned the Freddie Mercury-centric "Bohemian Rhapsody," which set the common ground for how such films would appear.

Several have done so, if only to be reduced to a Wikipedia breeze on a screen, such as 2021's "Respect," while others have been admirably better, like 2019's "Rocketman." Thus, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" already had two standards to face — of past material and its iconic subject.

Needless to say, Lemmons and McCarten have decided to pick out key moments of Houston's life and tried to cram them into a nearly 2.5-hour runtime, but the finished product doesn't seem to reflect just how impactful Houston was during her peak and the years after.

Granted, the filmmakers did not shy away from Houston's relationship with Nafessa William's Robyn Crawford, the criticisms of how "un-black" she sounded, and the substance abuse that hugely affected her, but all these never feel particularly emotional given how they all shaped Houston's being.

The filmmakers rather decided to focus on how the singer kept trying to prove — or rather, not having to prove — to others that she can be her own self, and that was enough to gain the success she deserved.

Related: Naomi Ackie is Whitney Houston in 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody' trailer

While not a magnificent outing, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" is an honest and respectful account of Houston's days, opting not to show excessive physical altercations with Ashton Sanders' Bobby Brown and the dreadful moment inside the bathtub.

For many who wish to see this film, it is to remember why Houston became such an icon through her music, which is what a viewer will get as the film treats audiences to many of the singer's hits.

From "The Greatest Love of All," "Home" and the eponymous song to "I Will Always Love You" and "It's Not Right But It's Okay" — even legendary performances at the 1991 Super Bowl and 1994 American Music Awards — the movie clearly knows Houston's singing is the hook.

Ackie may not look like Houston, but she nails Houston's attitudes and mannerisms so well that the songs could fool viewers into thinking it was the actress singing. 

Next to Ackie the best performance would be Stanley Tucci's who turned into a carbon copy of record producer Clive Davis, in a way Houston's source of conscience and soul.

Clarke Peters as Houston's father John and, most particularly, Tamara Tunie as Houston's mother and fellow singer Cissy, appear to be dwindled down by editing choices and story framing decisions that serve to revolve around Houston herself —  again an effect of the typical biopic format of late.

If anything, it might be hard to truly encapsulate the kind of figure that Houston was during her time. Costume designer Charlese Antoinette, though, deserves a lot of praise for attempting to do it through fabrics, especially when there is much about Houston that thousands could cherish more.

Perhaps Whitney herself sung it best: she was saving all her love, maybe the greatest one, for a film that was not right but was just okay.

RELATED: Meet the Filipino-American cinematographer of 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'