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Starring: Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Ashton Sanders, Tamara Tunie, Nafessa Williams, Clarke Peters
OUR RATING: ★★☆☆☆
Story:
Bio-musical drama directed by Kasi Lemmons. Based on the life and music of pop icon Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie), I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022) tracks her life in New Jersey as choir girl to one of the best-selling and most awarded recording artists of all time.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'Music is not a color to me. It has no boundaries.' - Whitney Houston Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Cissy Houston: [to Whitney] God gives you a gift, you got to use it right.
Cissy Houston: [to Whitney] Know the melody backward and forward. And enunciate. Pay attention to the words. Complete every word.
Whitney Houston: You know what, I quit.
Cissy Houston: No, you don’t quit. You gave that up when you told me that you wanted to do this.
Whitney Houston: My dream, no, it’s crazy, is to be a professional singer like them. But the bar is way, way too high, so. I’m happy to just sing my little “shoop-shoop, diddy-dum, diddy-doos,” backing my mom.
Cissy Houston: My voice. It’s gone. I need you to do the opening solo.
Whitney Houston: What? Mama, you were just shouting at me a second ago.
Cissy Houston: Well, maybe that’s what done it! And I need some time to get it back. So you start the show tonight. I’m your mother. No talking back.
Clive Davis: [after hearing Whitney sing] Okay.
Gerry Griffith: Just okay?
Clive Davis: I think I might have just heard the greatest voice of her generation.
Gerry Griffith: Yeah. Yeah. That kind of “okay”.
Clive Davis: Gerry, my “okay” is different than your “okay”. My “okay” comes with investment and legal obligations. Yours comes with a side of fries.
Clive Davis: Now, what kind of songs do you like?
Whitney Houston: Great big songs.
Whitney Houston: [referring to songs] That you almost can’t wrap your arms around. Songs that are like climbing a mountain, that’ll stretch me vocally, that I really got to sing my raggedy a** off to sell.
Clive Davis: Gospel? Country? Black? White?
Whitney Houston: All the above.
Clive Davis: All the above?
Whitney Houston: All of them. A great song is a great song.
Clive Davis: And you are a hundred percent correct on that.
'Every song is a story. If it's not a story, it's not a song.' - Cissy Houston Click To Tweet
Clive Davis: I’m an open book, Whitney, just so you know. Even though people say that the text size is so small that you need very strong glasses.
Clive Davis: In those days, you couldn’t admit that there was ever anything wrong with you.
Whitney Houston: And can you now?
Clive Davis: I want to tell you one thing, dear Whitney, before we begin. I never get involved in the personal lives of my artists. I am not a babysitter. I’m not a camp counselor. I’m not a rabbi. I know music. I have an ear, and I have an instinct. And in this respect, I can serve you. And I will be there for you at any hour.
John Houston: [to Whitney] You’re a princess. With that voice and the looks, you could be America’s princess. Start looking like one.
Cissy Houston: [as Whitney is about to sing on The Merv Griffin Show] You’re going to be fine. Just pretend like you’re singing in the shower.
Whitney Houston: You want me to imagine I’m singing butt naked in front of Merv Griffin? Come on. It’s not helping.
Cissy Houston: Remember. Head, heart, gut. Right? You’re my princess.
'Great singing comes from three places. The head, the heart, and the gut.' - Cissy Houston Click To Tweet
Merv Griffin: You won’t forget that name. Whitney Houston.
Whitney Houston: [as they’re listening to “How Will I know] Maybe.
Clive Davis: Maybe? Why?
Whitney Houston: How will I know if he really loves me? I say a prayer with every heartbeat. You know? I could do something with the chorus. Go up a key, get more out of it.
Clive Davis: Yeah, but that’s not a reason to do a song. It’s got to have a hook.
Whitney Houston: A hook?
Clive Davis: Yeah.
Whitney Houston: I’ll give it a hook.
Whitney Houston: This is the look they want. America’s sweetheart.
Robyn Crawford: And you’re going to give it to them.
John Houston: Whitney is Daddy’s girl. Always was, always will be. Nothing comes between us, you understand?
Robyn Crawford: Yeah. Yes, sir.
John Houston: She’s my princess, and we’re building something here. Something that you will have no part in.
'Sing what I want to sing. Be how I want to be. Reach as big an audience as I can. Isn't that what art's meant to do?' - Whitney Houston Click To Tweet
Robyn Crawford: [to Whitney] You slept with Jermaine Jackson. You’re just going to sit here and tell me you slept with Jermaine Jackson?
Whitney Houston: We agreed we had to see guys.
Robyn Crawford: We didn’t agree to screw them!
Robyn Crawford: So that’s it? Just like that?
Whitney Houston: I want a family. A husband. Kids. Faith and family.
Whitney Houston: You know, we can go to hell for this kind of s**t. I don’t want to go to hell.
Robyn Crawford: Yeah. Well, I’m not in such a hurry myself.
Whitney Houston: [to Robyn] I love you. In perpetuity, throughout the universe. I need my best friend.
'To sing with the gods, sometimes you need a ladder.' - Whitney Houston Click To Tweet
Whitney Houston: [after listening to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody] It’s about wanting to dance with somebody really bad. I mean, really, really, really, really, really bad. And for whatever reason, for whatever reason, you can’t.
Clive Davis: [to Whitney] Are you pinching yourself yet? One more, and you’ll have beat the Beatles for the most consecutive number ones in history.
R&B DJ: A common criticism of you and your music. That you’re a sellout. That you’re not a real Black artist. You’re about to walk out, aren’t you?
Whitney Houston: No. You’ll be walking out before I will.
Whitney Houston: Look, I don’t know how to sing Black. And I don’t know how to sing white either. I know how to sing. Music is not a color to me. It has no boundaries. Why somebody got to say something dumba** like that? I mean, who said that? That’s just bull. And it makes me angry actually. It’s hateful and uninformed.
'It's about love. The things we do to get it, and the things we do to keep it.' - Whitney Houston Click To Tweet
Whitney Houston: Why I got to be what someone wants me to be anyway? Sing what I want to sing. Be how I want to be. Reach as big an audience as I can. Isn’t that what art’s meant to do? My whole life, “She ain’t Black enough. She ain’t white enough.” Well, how about, “She’s not obedient enough”? How about, “She ain’t fearful enough”?
Interviewer: Are you a businesswoman?
Whitney Houston: Yes, I think so.
Interviewer: What does a businesswoman do?
Whitney Houston: Well, what does a businesswoman do? She says what she doesn’t want. And she knows, primarily, what she wants.
Interviewer: So, you are a tough cookie?
Whitney Houston: Sometimes.
Interviewer: Always?
Whitney Houston: Not always, no. Sometimes. That means sometimes.
John Houston: [referring to Robyn] She is a bad influence. And the press is talking too much trash. It’s damaging the brand. Do you understand?
Whitney Houston: Since when did your little girl become “the brand”? I missed that.
Trailer: