WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY is like the SparkNotes of [Houston's] life, a smattering of collected moments that feel hollow.

It is a celebration of her too-short, spectacular career but it does not ignore her drug use, her sexual relationship with Crawford, her tempestuous marriage, and her concert disasters.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody plays by the rules of the TV movie to efficient, if scarcely groundbreaking, effect. It will change no minds about Whitney Houston.

For fans who may already know some facets of Houston’s life, the film acts as a reminder of her career highlights, which sometimes get forgotten or overshadowed by the darker times she went through during the latter stages of her fame.