A real bore

Rating: 1/10 (16 September 2019)

Critically ravaged action/mystery/romance has a cult following among viewers of little discernment, but it is difficult to see why. Stoic bodyguard Kevin Costner is hired to overhaul the security for pop star/actress Whitney Houston in light of some death threats. Naturally the two clash and then fall in love. Yawn.
The clunky screenplay had been growing mold around Hollywood since the days of Steve McQueen, who was the first star sought for the title role. Costner is oddly made up to resemble McQueen here. Costner's bodyguard, who is described as the best in the business, holds himself personally responsible as he was assigned to Reagan's detail but had a day off when the attempted assassination by Hinckley occurred. Thus ends the character development.
Naturally, since Houston is being threatened and Costner is there to make sure she remains out of harm's way, she will be cooperative...NOT. Truly there would be no movie if Houston's character reacted in any credible manner to anything that goes on around her. She talks tough to Costner in a few scenes and tries to order people around, but she reveals herself to be such a clueless ninny that she cannot even finesse an overly exuberant crowd during one of her concert shows - and she has purportedly been in the business for quite some time. In short, she exists solely to place herself in some form of conspired danger at every opportunity and then wilt.
Truthfully, the film is unsuccessful at whatever it tries its hand at. The mystery elements are half-hearted and even snoozing viewers will pinpoint the person behind the threats. Then again, Houston receives so many threats throughout the film - from audiences, from nuts, from people close to her - that it becomes difficult to keep track of who or what has her in their sights at any given moment.
The action scenes are a bust. Everything unfolds in such a plodding manner that even the most obvious and clumsy of scenes are related as though they are of monumental importance and dripping with relevance. Houston never seems to be seriously in any danger, the assassin seems almost foolishly clumsy, and there is zero sense of urgency to anything that unfolds.
The romance is deadly. To say that there is a lack of chemistry between Costner and Houston would be an understatement of colossal proportions. I can imagine frozen cadavers generating more heat. Costner is devoid of personality here and every line reading is flat. His pulse never seems to rise above resting. A bit of humor would have helped, but other than a mid-movie quip to an unwanted pass from a female partygoer, Costner remains a glum and uninvolving performer.
Houston is every bit his equal on this front. Playing a pop star diva/actress should not be much of a stretch for her, but the woman has no energy or life onscreen. Even her concert moments are lifeless. There is no warmth or excitement to her - even her attempts to be diva-esque are pitifully weak. The conclusion set at the Oscars is unintentionally hilarious because it is impossible to imagine Houston being seriously considered for any acting awards given her emotionless line readings herein. And listening to her relentlessly wail "I Will Always You Love," which quickly became grating after endless plays on the radio is no selling point either.
Costner and Houston are singularly bad, but casting them as a couple on which to hang a film their combined effect is a virtual primer on how never to cast a romance. They are the antithesis of chemistry.
So we have a romance populated by leads that have no chemistry, an action film with no action and a mystery with no surprises. To say this is a huge failure would be kind. It does not even have a camp element to make it unintentionally fun. In short, it honestly has nothing to recommend it.