One of my all time favorites.

Boring, long, and too preachy.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I don't write very often reviews. But in this case I feel that I really have to write one. I found this movie awful. We all remember the story. Neither Whitney nor Bobby were so innocent. We all then thought that Bobby pushed her to drugs but now we all know that it was the exact opposite thing. The actors were no good. The production was poor. A month ago was released a documentary called "Whitney And Bobby Addicted To Love". If you want to know more truths about the story you should watch this one. RIP Whitney. You've been the greatest singer. RIP Bobbi Christina. I really feel that you had no chance with the crazy lifestyle of both of your families. May you both find true peace in your souls.

This made-for-TV film, ostensibly about Whitney Houston, appears to exist for the sole purpose of exculpating Bobby Brown of all wrongdoing in his former wife's eventual downfall. According to this version of the story, Whitney did drugs before Bobby did. In fact, she corrupted him, not vice versa. In this version of the story, Whitney's mother professes about her future son-in-law: "You can take the man out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the man." Pretty harsh. Whitney is depicted here as a woman with a great voice but a lot of insecurity and no real artistic talent. Significantly, she is contrasted to Bobby Brown, who is portrayed as a song writer and musician who is held back by his marriage to Whitney, particularly after their child is born.Before watching this movie, I was under the opposite impression. The reigning narrative seems to be that Bobby Brown was a bad boy (just like Whitney's mom warned in this film--but which reflected poorly not upon the son-in-law, but on the mother!). I do not believe that I was alone in believing that Bobby got Whitney tangled up in drugs, cheated on her, and perhaps even beat her, and that he was ultimately the cause of her downfall.My best guess is that Bobby Brown was one of the producers of this biopic. Or perhaps there was someone else now dear to him and hoping to clean up his tarnished reputation.

The only surprise in this movie was that we learned more about Bobby than we did Whitney. I realize the family was not behind this movie, but after watching it twice, I did not find out one thing about Whitney that the media hadn't already reported on thousands of times before while it was happening. Actually, the movie is much kinder to Whitney and Bobby than I expected it to be. Now, with their daughter in such physical trouble that I pray she overcomes, I have to admit I have found some things that Bobbi has said, along with the rest of the family, questionable. Bobbi was interviewed and stated that she was not asked to play Whitney. She seemed mad about that, but she knows she's not an actor, and why was she so upset at not being asked, yet in the same breath mad because a movie was being made and it being "too soon". The actors were believable , and although I was surprised that Bobby was more prominent than Whitney, we have to remember that the two of them were together for most of her success and also her decline. Angela Bassett did a wonderful job in trying to fit so much material into such a short network allotted time frame. Whitney the movie is not the "drag them through the mud" film that it was portrayed to be by members of the Houston clan.

This movie should have been titled "Whitney and Bobby" because it is primarily about their tempestuous relationship and NOT the story of Whitney's life.The good points: Most people wondered what beautiful, elegant, classy Whitney Houston saw in "bad boy" Bobby Brown. This movie convincingly answers that question. Bobby was young, sexy, energetic, and enormously talented. He had a strong, commanding personality and he and Whitney had a passionate, erotically-charged relationship. He was her first love.Arlen Escarpeta doesn't look like Bobby Brown, but he effectively captures his persona. Love the dance number he does at the beginning of the movie, although Bobby sang "My Prerogative" at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, not "Every Little Step I Take." Deborah Cox does a very credible job of recreating Whitney's vocals. I think Jason Derulo does Bobby's vocals.The actor portraying Clive Davis looks almost exactly like him.The bad points: Yaya DaCosta is pretty, but she looks nothing like Whitney Houston. Whitney was stunningly beautiful with a radiance that lit up stage and screen. Yaya has none of that charisma. Whitney not only had a beautiful singing voice, but her speaking voice was melodious as well. Yaya sounds like a screeching Valley Girl. Her acting skills are mediocre, and I never at any time during the movie thought I was looking at Whitney.The movie sanitized Bobby's behavior to the point that at times he seemed like Saint Bobby. Whitney snorts coke from the very beginning of their relationship, but Bobby supposedly turns it down because he's seen its "bad outcomes." He also turns down sex from a groupie because of his supposed fidelity to Whitney. He breaks up with Whitney because he wants a serious relationship, but she just wants to keep things casual. He is extremely supportive of her career without any trace of jealousy during her meteoric rise to fame. I don't think Bobby was the villain the media made him out to be, but I doubt he was as positive an influence as this movie contends.Clive Davis managed Whitney's career for many years and turned her into a superstar. In his brief appearances in the movie he seems callous and a bit insensitive, which is an unfair depiction.Arlen Escarpeta is too old for the part. Bobby was only 20 years old when he and Whitney met; Escarpeta is 33. Whitney was 25, so Yaya at age 32 is a bit too old for her part, too.Bobby was cute back in the day, but Arlen is better-looking. Bobby was a gap-toothed kid barely out of his teens when he and Whitney hooked up. If he had been as handsome, muscular, and mature-looking as Arlen, he and Whitney wouldn't have seemed like such a mismatch.The musical numbers were too long. We don't need to see Yaya lip syncing full-length songs that were themselves being sung by Deborah Cox, not Whitney.This isn't a bad movie, but it's not a good one either. Whitney's legacy was far-reaching, and she deserves a high-quality biopic about her amazing career and complex relationships. "Whitney" falls far short of the mark.