A lightweight melodrama

Rating: 3/10 (24 May 2009)

Whitney Houston's screen debut is a lavish urban thriller that takes itself quite seriously but never gets going. The film stumbles from one scene to another and never has any semblance of a coherent, believable story. The production values are top notch all around but the plot is utterly senseless. Houston does well in her role as a temperamental diva, is talented, pretty, bitchy and vulnerable. She fares much better than star Kevin Costner, who plays the title role. Costner seems unsure of himself and comes across as tentative and hopelessly wooden, although he and Houston do seem to have a bit of chemistry between them. Ralph Waite is fine as the bodyguard's father but the rest of the cast overacts to the point of silliness.