Inevitable cheapie biopic of singing legend, no more or less than the sum of it's parts

davideo-2

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

A TV dramatisation of the late singer Whitney Houston (Yaya DaCosta) and her tumultuous marriage to r n' b star Bobby Brown (Arlen Escarpeta.) The pair embarked on an excessive, drug fuelled party lifestyle, where accusations were tossed either way about who was responsible and this aims to shine an equal light on both sides.

A grimly unfortunate consequence of those famous passing is a chance to use their death to cash in, and exploit it by whipping up as much sensationalism as possible. Although arriving a few years after Houston's passing, this TV biopic still feels a little cheap and low grade in it's directions.

This basically has Hallmark written all over it, the type of thing certain people can lie back, and have a box of chocolates and a box of Kleenex to best enjoy. It is what it is, no more and no less, although it has to be said DaCosta's lead performance as Whitney has a certain ring of truth to it, but feels overboard and excessive even by what were her wild standards. **

score 4/10

davideo-2 8 October 2015

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3331287/