Lemme just say the Whitney movie on Lifetime gets a 4 out of 5. Here is my harsh yet honest opinion below. So Yaya Decosta ("America's Next Top Model" and Cassandra from "All My Children") did a bang up job as Whitney Houston! She talked, laughed, shook her head, and cried like LaHouston. The rest of the cast fell in line too especially Arlen Escarpeta as Bobby Brown. He played Bobby as empathetic and real. Under Angela Bassett's direction the movie did a great job explaining the Whitney/Bobby complex relationship.
HOWEVER do not call a movie "Whitney" then begin and end with the Whitney/Bobby relationship. This movie shoulda been called Whitney and Bobby. It didn't SHOW Whitney growing up, or SHOW Whitney dreaming, or SHOW Whitney modeling, or SHOW Whitney's family dynamic. It told us all those things. I wanna see the rags to riches. I wanna see her get movie parts. It did show her drug use and how it started before Bobby. And another thing it didn't show her friendships and rivalries in Hollywood. It didn't show her age. Just that ONE period. And for that it gets 4 stars. 5 if we saw her complete life though.