Tuesday, January 20, 2015

'WHITNEY' Lifetime Movie - Why'd you do it Angela Bassett?

I, like so many other Whitney Houston fans, could not wait to watch the Lifetime movie 'Whitney.' The fact that it was directed by her former Waiting to Exhale cast member and friend Angela Bassett made it even better. This was destined to be good, but unfortunately it immediately wasn't. The movie begins with Whitney Houston meeting Bobby Brown at the Grammy's and I learned soon enough that the movie's premise was more about their relationship and who Bobby Brown was during this period than about Whitney and her life or accomplishments. According to this movie Whitney was more of a coke whore who loved parties, lascivious sex and had commitment issues. The movie made sure to shine a light on the rumored lesbian relationship she had and made it a point to highlight she did not write her own music. Bobby, on the other hand, refused Whitney's drug offers, preferring his beer, was a dedicated father, and was literally at Whitney's beck and call. The actor cast to play him also looked like a Kappa whereas the actor/model chosen to play Whitney looked disheveled in most scenes. How did that happen?

Frankly, I was appalled and disappointed by this horrible depiction of Whitney Houston. We already know about the failure that she and Bobby ultimately became. Did we really need to know Bobby's version of it? If so, do a movie about him and call it by his name. Did you need to call it Whitney so we'd watch? And let's just say that Whitney was wild and liked to party. She worked hard to keep all of that under wraps and never had her name blasted in the media until her debacle of a marriage with Bobby. Why work to further besmudge a dead woman's name? Her impeccable reputation was already damaged but we as fans want to move on and look back in retrospect to the woman we fell in love with. The beautiful black woman with that amazing, infectious smile who sang perfect notes and made little black girls like me believe we could be just like her one day. We too could model in magazines or sing on tv or act in movies. And whoever Whitney might have been behind closed doors, she carried herself with nothing but class in public. Thank you though for the scene of her dry humping Bobby in the club and getting her neck licked like it was a dripping ice cream cone. How could you make this movie with the slant you took Angela? For shame.