Absolutely Fantastic

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

As a Whitney lover, but too young to know about her history I found this very well done. It's one of those movies you can't stop thinking about for weeks. RIP Whitney, you deserved better people around you

Just kidding!This is quite good, better than your average Behind the Music episode due to the access to the interviewees and how much they opened up - McDonald is also solid as an interviewer and makes sure to ask follow up questions much as possible - and there are many candid home video clips of Houston that add to the subject matter (the best being a bit where she decries Paula Abdul but not before her mother Cissy shittalks Janet Jackson).McDonald and his editors take pop culture and politics and make damn sure through montage to compare and contrast in literally smashing pieces together that Houston's music couldn't be disentangled from the times they were in. How she became so monumentally successful? What was the world she was in? Somehow only she could pull off the Star Spangled Banner as a black woman to such a way everyone else since aspires to that.Downsides: it has the predictable arc due to knowing a pop stars history, but the tragedy here is that there were so many who were there for Whitney and she succumbed to her addictions.

If you are a Whitney Houston fan or even if you mainly just enjoy some of her hit songs, I highly recommend this movie. It is a very raw and real documentary that tells the successes and struggles that Whitney faced throughout her lifetime. The movie has never-seen-before footage and stories from Whitney's family members (Mother Cissy Houston, her siblings, Bobby Brown, best friend Robyn, etc), friends, and business associates and it talks about some of the deep, and dark secrets of her past all the way to the end of her life. "Whitney" had me up in excitement when I saw some of her behind-the-scenes thoughts and moments, but it also had me very sad when I saw a clear look into some of the personal demons that haunted her and were often in some of the tabloids at the time. If you want to look more into the story of an icon and to enjoy a strong drama on the theater screen, this movie is a good one to check out and it will have you talking and thinking about it even when it's over.

I was lucky enough to see this as part of preview screening at the Brixton Ritzy, bookended by incredible performances from the London Community Gospel Choir. It was emotionally exhausting, a whole range from euphoria at her stratospheric rise to distress at Whitney's destructive fall and personal tragedy. The film is an education in the music industry, media reaction and family drama. Stark and shocking in places with well chosen news footage framing her life in the context of the world she lived in at the time.