Whitney Houston: I wanna dance with somebody

It's always watchable but Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (dumb title) is a by the numbers biopic that follows the formula without a single interesting addition, covering an iconic career in its entirety without ever spending the time to dig below the surface or focus on a single angle.

Naomi Ackie is undoubtedly the best part of this film with a performance that has a clear love and commitment in it and never once feels like she's phoning it in. The rest of the cast are all fine, playing their stock characters well with Stanley Tucci in particular in perfectly easygoing mode.

Kasi Lemmons direction is technically competent with the most noticeable stylistic choice being the documentary style which doesn't really work. The film also does look and feel like a TV movie, exacerbated by some brief but awful CG.