I watched it and I liked it. I think that Angela Bassett did a good job, and so did the actors she cast, not to mention Deborah Cox, who's voice was used in the singing. She has a great voice and sounded a lot like Whitney. It made me sad though, because it made me miss Whitney. It breaks my heart that she died so tragically and is no longer here.

The movie went too far out of its way to be sympathetic to Bobby, depicting him too soulful and naive, almost as if it was trying to scream at the viewer that we should let go of the general perception that being married to him is what brought her down. While I don't believe he was to blame for all of her problems, I don't believe he was as nice, calm or borderline innocent as the movie seemed to want to suggest.

The other mistake was that it focused almost exclusively on their marriage, while pretty much totally ignoring Whitney's early life, rise to fame, and everything pre and post-Bobby. Yeah, their marriage is a huge and practically defining part of her legend, but if they were ONLY going to focus on it, then it should have been called "Whitney and Bobby," not just Whitney.

This should have been a 2-part miniseries that focused on childhood, early fame and maybe just her meeting him in the first part...then in the second part focus on Bobby/Bodygaurd/tabloids/drugs. It also should have aired on broadcast television, rather than basic cable.

Despite these severe limitations, it wasn't a bad movie. Bassett did a decent job directing what was there and the actors pulled off their characters well enough.

[Edited 1/18/15 11:28am]

I want to see it too. I hope they showed a lot about the crack. I'd especially like to see a scene where she and Cherrelle shared an apartment and she stayed in her bedroom for days and didn't come out and kept using an unwashed sex toy. Of course, I'd have to turn the sound down once they started playing her music though. Hopefully, they did it similar to the VH1 Michael Jackson movie where they didn't include any music.

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[Edited 1/18/15 4:41am]

Qazz said:

Qazz said:

The movie went too far out of its way to be sympathetic to Bobby, depicting him too soulful and naive, almost as if it was trying to scream at the viewer that we should let go of the general perception that being married to him is what brought her down. While I don't believe he was to blame for all of her problems, I don't believe he was as nice, calm or borderline innocent as the movie seemed to want to suggest.

The other mistake was that it focused almost exclusively on their marriage, while pretty much totally ignoring Whitney's early life, rise to fame, and everything pre and post-Bobby. Yeah, their marriage is a huge and practically defining part of her legend, but if they were ONLY going to focus on it, then it should have been called "Whitney and Bobby," not just Whitney.

This should have been a 2-part miniseries that focused on childhood, early fame and maybe just her meeting him in the first part...then in the second part focus on Bobby/Bodygaurd/tabloids/drugs in the second half. It also should have aired on broadcast television, rather than basic cable.

Despite these severe limitations, it wasn't a bad movie. Bassett did a decent job directing what was there and the actors pulled off their characters well enough.

[Edited 1/18/15 2:14am]

I totally agree on the part I highlighted......that's what I was expecting, the title of the movie threw me off because that's exactly what I was expecting......

if we want a truly accurate account on Whitney, it needs to ben shown how commercial media and urban media started attacking her unmercifully by the end of the 80s, talking about her sexuality, attacking her sexuality, she got attacked from both fronts and I'm sure that played a huge role in the choices she made years after in experimenting with substance use

It was ok. It looked low buget just like the Aailyah movie. What did they really show for three hours? Every minute they show them having sex because they had nothing else to show. Call the movie Whitney and Bobby: The Love Story not Whitney.

Purplestar88 said:

It was ok. It looked low buget just like the Aailyah movie. What did they really show for three hours? Every minute they show them having sex because they had nothing else to show. Call the movie Whitney and Bobby: The Love Story not Whitney.

True dat....

I knew that Aaliyah movie was going to be lackluster...I didn't even watch it

Purplestar88 said:

Fury said:

Purplestar88 said:

It was ok. It looked low buget just like the Aailyah movie. What did they really show for three hours? Every minute they show them having sex because they had nothing else to show. Call the movie Whitney and Bobby: The Love Story not Whitney.

It was only two hours --- and then an interview with bobby for an hour , then an hour of Whitney live performances. It wasn't the supposed to be about Whitney Houston's entire life... It was a chapter that everybody knew about

In the two hours what did they really show? Every time you look around they was in the bed. It does not matter if it was one chapter of her life or not. The movie was ok. The acting and outfits were ok but the story was poor. It is clear to me they are making a movie about a relationship they didn't know anything about.

Purplestar88 said:

I love Angela Bassett as an actress but she was very disrespectful to direct this movie knowing the Houston's were against it. How can you create a biopic movie about someone without the family's involvement? I didn't watch this movie because based on the previews I knew it was going to be full of media sensational lies because that is pretty much all the previews show. Ain't no way in hell, Bobby Brown turned down pussy or crack get the hell out of here with that bull crap!!! The producers and Angela ran to Bobby with those lies. Its sad because Whitney's young fans will believe that movie as the truth. Whitney deserves better!!! She deserves an expensive high budget movie about her life. A bio pic is suppose to tell a story about someone's life, childhood, accomplishments, struggles etc. It is not suppose to be "entertaining" and exploitive . I did watch the live Whitney performances though. One word, AMAZING. There will NEVER be another Whitney! God bless you Whitney!

Fury said:

Qazz said:

The movie went too far out of its way to be sympathetic to Bobby, depicting him too soulful and naive, almost as if it was trying to scream at the viewer that we should let go of the general perception that being married to him is what brought her down. While I don't believe he was to blame for all of her problems, I don't believe he was as nice, calm or borderline innocent as the movie seemed to want to suggest.

The other mistake was that it focused almost exclusively on their marriage, while pretty much totally ignoring Whitney's early life, rise to fame, and everything pre and post-Bobby. Yeah, their marriage is a huge and practically defining part of her legend, but if they were ONLY going to focus on it, then it should have been called "Whitney and Bobby," not just Whitney.

This should have been a 2-part miniseries that focused on childhood, early fame and maybe just her meeting him in the first part...then in the second part focus on Bobby/Bodygaurd/tabloids/drugs in the second half. It also should have aired on broadcast television, rather than basic cable.

Despite these severe limitations, it wasn't a bad movie. Bassett did a decent job directing what was there and the actors pulled off their characters well enough.

[Edited 1/18/15 2:14am]

I thought it was smart to just focus on one part of her life -- the Bobby years. It did a good job of showing that she had her own demons before, during and after him. No way would it have been as effective on regular tv -- did you miss the sex scenes ? Next time if the family wants to contribute they can do a whole sanitized she was an innocent angel version. She died of a drug overdose/ heart attack and I thought the movie did a good job of showing how she was killing herself slowly.

Whitney was not perfect. She had her issues but that does not make everything depicted in the movie true especially since none of the family was involved and they more than likely used Bobby Brown as their main source. I agree with Qazz. I haven't seen the entire movie just bits and pieces including the preview but from what I have heard there was no depiction of her childhood, early life, first record deal, meeting Bobby, and accomplishments. These are very important aspects of her life that should have been covered or at least briefly covered.

[Edited 1/18/15 13:37pm]

mjscarousal said:

I love Angela Bassett as an actress but she was very disrespectful to direct this movie knowing the Houston's were against it. How can you create a biopic movie about someone without the family's involvement? I didn't watch this movie because based on the previews I knew it was going to be full of media sensational lies because that is pretty much all the previews show. Ain't no way in hell, Bobby Brown turned down pussy or crack get the hell out of here with that bull crap!!! The producers and Angela ran to Bobby with those lies. Its sad because Whitney's young fans will believe that movie as the truth. Whitney deserves better!!! She deserves an expensive high budget movie about her life. A bio pic is suppose to tell a story about someone's life, childhood, accomplishments, struggles etc. It is not suppose to be "entertaining" and exploitive . I did watch the live Whitney performances though. One word, AMAZING. There will NEVER be another Whitney! God bless you Whitney!

I agree 150%.......never should have made it....it never highlighted the beginning of her career, which was absolutely magfnificent

the Jackson's American Dream Movie was as good as it gets, exceptional, family produced and directed....totally different level

Whitney, the greatest female vocalist of all time...bar none....

mjscarousal said:

A bio pic is suppose to tell a story about someone's life, childhood, accomplishments, struggles etc.

Not necessarily, it can just be about a certain portion. There's a movie about John Lennon's teen years called Nowhere Boy. It's about his relationships with his mother Julia and Aunt Mimi. It goes up to Paul & George joining The Quarrymen and Julia's death. It doesn't get into The Beatles or even Stuart Sutcliffe. There's another movie about the early Beatles in Hamburg called Backbeat.

mjscarousal said:

Fury said:

mjscarousal said:

I love Angela Bassett as an actress but she was very disrespectful to direct this movie knowing the Houston's were against it. How can you create a biopic movie about someone without the family's involvement? I didn't watch this movie because based on the previews I knew it was going to be full of media sensational lies because that is pretty much all the previews show. Ain't no way in hell, Bobby Brown turned down pussy or crack get the hell out of here with that bull crap!!! The producers and Angela ran to Bobby with those lies. Its sad because Whitney's young fans will believe that movie as the truth. Whitney deserves better!!! She deserves an expensive high budget movie about her life. A bio pic is suppose to tell a story about someone's life, childhood, accomplishments, struggles etc. It is not suppose to be "entertaining" and exploitive . I did watch the live Whitney performances though. One word, AMAZING. There will NEVER be another Whitney! God bless you Whitney!

Bobby cheated in the movie and did drugs. And he said In the interview afterwards that they both dis drugs and they both cheated-- how is that a whitewash ? What biopic tells a 100% factual story ? What's love go to do with it ? Ray ? Walk the line ? None of them.

The movies you mentioned had a equal balance of everything about that person's life. Also, some of their family and the actual person had some actual involvement in the making of the movie. That was not the case with this Whitney movie. Bobby said in that interview that he was sober for the last 13 years i and that is a bold face lie because he was arrested in 2008 for drug use. I would take what ever Bobby says about anything with a grain of salt. Once again, I know Whitney was no angel but some of the things in the movie were one sided.

i watched the biopic last night. not sure yet if i liked the way it was presented, but i do have to say i think ya ya dacosta did a good job of portraying whitney houston

(by the way ya ya dacosta was a runner up for america's next model a few years back. she also had a role in 'the butler' with forest whitaker and oprah winfrey

Let's face it, Whitney's family, the record company, Clive Davis, and even Whitney herself, had us all fooled as to the person she truly was. The first time that I started to see the real Whitney, was during the taping of Being Bobby Brown, otherwise I would still be thinking that Whitney was the good girl, princess that her record company, family, and everyone else involved in her career, wanted us to believe she was. Every time that the media reported on her drug problems, her camp would deny it and say that it was a lie, and come to find out, it was not a lie, but the truth. People have blamed Bobby Brown for years, and many still do, for Whitney's drug use, but that was a lie also. Now we all know that Whitney was doing drugs long before Bobby came into her life, and her own brother admitted on Oprah that it was he that started her with the drugs. Like it or not, Whitney was no angel or princess, and she loved Bobby Brown for the man that he was. Maybe that's because deep down, that she knew that she was no better or different of a person, than he was. Her mom and record company may have wanted her to be the sweet, innocent princess pop star that they tried to create her to be, but Whitney knew that-that image really wasn't her, the real Whitney Houston. Obviously, there was something going on in her life that she couldn't deal with even before meeting and marrying Bobby Brown, because she was doing drugs before that time, and a person just doesn't do drugs for the fun of it, they do it because there's an issue inside of them somewhere that they aren't dealing or coping with.

1contessa said:

Let's face it, Whitney's family, the record company, Clive Davis, and even Whitney herself, had us all fooled as to the person she truly was. The first time that I started to see the real Whitney, was during the taping of Being Bobby Brown, otherwise I would still be thinking that Whitney was the good girl, princess that her record company, family, and everyone else involved in her career, wanted us to believe she was. Every time that the media reported on her drug problems, her camp would deny it and say that it was a lie, and come to find out, it was not a lie, but the truth. People have blamed Bobby Brown for years, and many still do, for Whitney's drug use, but that was a lie also. Now we all know that Whitney was doing drugs long before Bobby came into her life, and her own brother admitted on Oprah that it was he that started her with the drugs. Like it or not, Whitney was no angel or princess, and she loved Bobby Brown for the man that he was. Maybe that's because deep down, that she knew that she was no better or different of a person, than he was. Her mom and record company may have wanted her to be the sweet, innocent princess pop star that they tried to create her to be, but Whitney knew that-that image really wasn't her, the real Whitney Houston. Obviously, there was something going on in her life that she couldn't deal with even before meeting and marrying Bobby Brown, because she was doing drugs before that time, and a person just doesn't do drugs for the fun of it, they do it because there's an issue inside of them somewhere that they aren't dealing or coping with.

I never believed Bobby Brown was the reason Whitney was using substance....I never ever believed that

I never viewed her as a goody too shoes, picture perfect

the problem was that everyone else was who was associated w/her career in terms of the image they wanted her to project rather than just simply allowing her to showcase her talent as a vocalist.......that was the problem and Clive was a big part of the problem in that in the beginning when she released her debut single YOU GIVE GOOD LOVE in 1985.......he advised her to refrain from conducting any interviews w/urban radio even when the urban audience, black people was the primary support, fast forward 4 years later, that career advice led to a backlash at the 1989 Sout Train Awards where she was booed, because her record company left her in a position that led that initial audience to conclude she wanted to crossover exclusively.......

and after she was booed, she cried like there was no tomorrow and I'm sure that incident alone triggered, or intensified her use of substance

along w/that, when Whitney gave word she did not want to be America's princess, then commercial media AND urban media started questioning her sexuality

so now she found herself ostracized by both fronts and I always believed during the time she started her relationship w/Bobby Brown, Brown was the #1 R&B artist in the country, that Whitney started that relationship, a primary reason why was in hopes of improving her stance w/the black audience (record buyers), when it wasn't even her fault why she found herself having to improve that association, and I'm sure Brown picked up on that

if they really want to make a true biopic, they need to include all of this too and I'm sure that the public will find that dynamic more troubling than her relationship/marriage with Bobby Brown

its' easy to dump on Bobby Brown and make him the scapegoat.....

mjscarousal said:

Fury said:

mjscarousal said:

The movies you mentioned had a equal balance of everything about that person's life. Also, some of their family and the actual person had some actual involvement in the making of the movie. That was not the case with this Whitney movie. Bobby said in that interview that he was sober for the last 13 years i and that is a bold face lie because he was arrested in 2008 for drug use. I would take what ever Bobby says about anything with a grain of salt. Once again, I know Whitney was no angel but some of the things in the movie were one sided.

Her family didn't cooperate, didn't want her songs played and complained when they didn't get an advance viewing. Who's failt is that if everything didn't get into the movie ?

The Houstons have done some shady things since Whitney's passing I am not going to deny that. However, if Angela was a real friend of Whitney's she would have respected her family's wishes. The family did not approve of this movie way before it was even directed and a script was even written. People keep insisting that Whitney was no "angel" but that is not the issue. The issue is bio movies should have family involvement and should cover as much about the person as possible and not just ONE aspect about the person. It is clear the movie had an agenda and that agenda was to exploit and sensationalize Whitney's relationship with Bobby and drug problems. Whitney was MORE than that and there were a lot of positiive things about her and her life besides that.

Whitney Houston's Family Slams Lifetime, Angela Bassett Over Unauthorized Biopic

"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," family says in statement

here's a perfect example of what I've been alluding to about Whitney's crafted image and how it's still being projected today

I recorded the special Whitney Houston Beyond The Headlines, and it's mentioned how Clive Davis did not want to promote Whitney as a "Black Singer, as R&B, as soul" and how he promoted her as a "Pop" singer for the world and how he shaped her image 2 years before releasing her debut album

the special indiated Whitney's first single was GREATEST LOVE OF ALL released at the beginning of 1986, then showed footage of her video HOW WILL I KNOW

but THAT'S not right....

her first major single release from her debut album was YOU GIVE GOOD LOVE released during the spring of 1985, which drew R&B following that set teh stage for her to achieve popular success w/her latter singles

stunts like that is what led to the backlash 4 years later at the SOUL TRAIN MUSIC AWARDS because that audience who set the stage felt slighted, but had to act in defense for the criticism it uttered because ultimately, pop stature is held in higher esteem than just allowing the artist to stand on his/her own merit.....

what happened with Whitney by 1989 highlights the beginning stages of how the pop music landscape, the pop ascension began to eliminate authenticity

[Edited 1/19/15 7:25am]

missfee said:

I thought the movie was weak with a few LMAO moments that I don't think were meant to be funny. The movie did make me want to revisit a couple of Bobby's albums though. Also the title should had been called "Bobby & Whitney: The Love Affair" or something along those lines. I love Angela Bassett but she and Whitney weren't close friends, they only met and acquainted while they were working in "Waiting to Exhale"..so how does that qualify her to make a movie on the woman's marriage based on assumptions???? I give it 1 star out of 5.

Thanks boo, nice insight!