Clive Davis is both the producer behind "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and the second biggest character, and you'll never guess who's depicted as the hero of the movie.
From the beginning, the sweetie-pie record executive gives Whitney Houston, the subject of the biopic, complete creative freedom — which is definitely not what we were hearing back in the '80s. He repeatedly begs her to stop using drugs. And, having embraced his bisexuality late in life, he encourages her to find love with Robyn Crawford, the woman always publicly described as her "best friend" or "creative director." The movie's portrayal of Davis (played by Stanley Tucci in a horrendous wig) is so relentlessly positive that its message boils down to "Hey, not my fault."
Going into "Wanna," the big question is: How will it deal with the lowlights of the troubled singer's too-brief life? The answer is: Mostly, it skips them. We see her fill the bathtub in which she'll die but the movie tactfully stops there. There's no "Being Bobby Brown." No mention of her daughter's death. Only a brief hint of live performances that left audiences disappointed. We see her buying drugs and suffering from their effects but not taking them.
