I Wanna Dance with Somebody is probably best watched by Whitney Houston stans. I am not one of them. I like her just fine but never got on the bandwagon. Keep that in mind while I go off on this biopic.

So maybe an almost 2 1/2 hour biopic wasn’t really meant for me. But I went in hoping this biopic would break the mold. I honestly only have a passing knowledge her career… mainly the big moments… her earlier music videos, The Bodyguard and her amazing cover of I Will Always Love You, the Super Bowl, Bobby Brown, and, sadly, crack is whack. The details of her life were unknown to me so I appreciate some of the tidbits in this film…

But a lot of the connective tissue seems to be skipped over. It hops from moment to moment, rarely imparting each event with importance or what the overall impact was. It was like the writer and director assumed I knew everything I needed to know so didn’t bother connecting the dots. Yes, she starred in The Bodyguard… and then what? Did it do well? I guess so… they passingly mention she starred in two more movies… and? Oh wait… her daughter is 8 years old… oh, now she’s a teenager? OK… time is flying by.

The first hour of the flick was a perfectly acceptable biopic… pretty generic but with lovely songs and fine performances. I learned a few things I didn’t know before. Naomi Ackie was fine (as far as I could tell) as Whitney. And I’m sure Clive Davis is a lovely man and not at all a bloodsucking music producer… but Stanley Tucci plays him as such a saint, I wasn’t at all surprised to see who one of the producers was. I see you hiding behind that curtain, Clive.

And then we hit the usual “descent” stage of a biopic. And I glanced at my watch and realized we were in this for the long haul… there was still over an hour left in this movie. And all the gears started to grind to a halt. The movie turned into a generic slog that I had barely the patience to sit through. When the epic conclusion hits via a medley, I was dreading the time they were going to spend on each song.

So maybe don’t pay attention to this grumbly grouse if you are a Houston diehard. Go see it, love the concert, weep at the decline. For everyone else, maybe not so much.

Score: 69