But even then, he goes to rehab, tells her business-which gets exploited in the tabloids-and then they make up and we’re left with Whitney on stage, singing “I Will Always Love You.” Toward the end, Bobby downs the vodka, does a line, and cheats on Whitney.
In most of those minutes nothing really happened besides those two getting married and Whitney doing cocaine. A two-hour basic cable movie is about 88 net minutes to tell a story. Which leads me to another problem with the movie: We don’t see much at all really. This, despite the reality that Bobby Brown had been famous since he was a very young teenager as a part of New Edition and netted his own colossal fame as a solo act in the 1980s.Įither way, what we see in Whitney feels unfair to its namesake. In this movie, Bobby was some wide-eyed second tier singer who behaved as if he hadn’t ever been anywhere when he met Whitney. We knew Whitney would cover the first five years of Whitney Houston’s tumultuous relationship with the “Kang of R&B,” Bobby Brown, but none of us were clued into how skewed the narrative would play in Bobby’s favor. Similarly, if you’re going to call the movie Whitney, it should not come across as a project that would’ve been served better had it been called The Miseducation of Bobby Brown. However, a movie about an artist as captivating on and off stage as Whitney Houston deserves more than just passable competence (and that’s being generous). In that respect, Whitney won it is not terrible, and if nothing else, watchable.
Tell us what you think of the TV movie too.After the airing of the comically abysmal Aaliyah: Princess of R&B, Lifetime and first-time director Angela Bassett had it pretty easy when it came to their Whitney Houston biopic: just don’t be as awful as that movie and reap the benefits of low expectations. Will you be watching Whitney? Take a look at my review and tell us what you think. “This made for TV movie is certainly not a trailer to Whitney’s life story.” “Never would Whitney allow her story to be told by an inexperienced team and how naive of anyone to think otherwise, unless you’re caught up in illusions of grandeur that you can just do anything and people will accept it,” she added to previous jabs at Bassett and Lifetime. “I say this to all Whitney’s family, friends and fan base: If you watch this movie, watch it knowing that Lifetime is notorious for making bad biopics of deceased celebrities and brace yourself for the worst,” wrote Pat Houston, the singer’s sister-in-law and president of the Whitney Houston Estate on the deceased superstar’s official website. Today the singer’s estate reiterated their very strong dislike of Whitney. The Houston family have denounced the biopic almost since it was first announced. He also penned the 2013 Betty And Coretta TV movie that starred Bassett, who is making her directorial debut here. Mark Rolston is there in a very unflattering portrayal of music mogul Clive Davis. Arlen Escarpeta plays her husband and ex-New Edition member Bobby Brown. Stiff in direction and acting and without any of Houston’s singing, the biopic features former America’s Next Top Model runner-up Yaya DaCosta in the title role. It’s also not about the superstar’s last years and death just before the 2012 Grammys, if that is what you are looking for. However, as my video review above says, Whitney is just not good at all - even by celeb biopic standards.
With the debut of the Angela Bassett-directed Whitney movie and two related specials, Lifetime is going All Houston All Night. If you’re a Whitney Houston fan, like millions are, then Saturday night will be a big deal.