Finally, An African-American Chick Flick
'Waiting to Exhale' rings true with women

Date: December 26, 1995
By Sandra Brooks-Dillard, Theater Critic

From The Denver Post
Submitted by: Larry A.


'Waiting to Exhale," Terry McMillan's third book about the experiences of contemporary African-American women, was a runaway bestseller when it blasted into America's consciousness in 1993.

Black women by the millions read the insightful, fast-paced, engrossing book about four best friends searching for love and happiness in the face of harsh contemporary realities, particularly the lack of good black men.

McMillan's characters are 33-year-old Savannah, a fledgling television producer involved with a married doctor; Bernardine, who helped her husband build his successful business only to be devastated when he left her for a white woman; and Robin, who has a penchant for always picking the wrong man and who is obsessed with a worthess pretty boy.

Finally there's Gloria, the overweight owner of a hair salon. A single mother of a teenaged son and divorced from a man she later learns is gay, she has given up the search for love and fills her emotional void by over-mothering and over-eating.

In a story that takes place over a year in Phoenix, McMillan emphasizes the nurturing strength that the women find in their close, supportive friendship, and chronicles their search for emotional connection with the right man, their disappointments and hopes, their mistakes and successes. There are even some happy endings.

Many African-American men said the book, with its faithless, irresponsible black men who lied, cheated, chased white women and were lousy lovers to boot, was blatant male-bashing.

But the most frequent response from black women was, "The author knows me and she knows my friends."

Now the long-awaited movie adapted from the best-selling novel is out, starring Whitney Houston as Savannah, Angela Bassett as Bernardine, Lela Rochon as Robin and Loretta Devine as Gloria.

The consensus is that the movie, a first time directing effort by black actor Forest Whitaker, is entertaining, but not as good as the book.

At a recent special screening, the mostly black audience often erupted in the laughter of recognition, occasionally wiped away surreptitious tears and cheered when certain characters got their comeuppance.

Afterward, several from the group of professional black women who were invited to the screening shared their opinions. Most ranged in age from 30 to 50 and many work in communications, journalism or public relations.

"I thought it was OK. I enjoyed the book better," said Gerri Gomez-Howard. "There was more emotion in the book. You could relate to the characters in the book, and more happened," she said, referring to some portions that were not included in the film.

Joyce Bolton enjoyed the movie for a number of reasons. "I thought it was kind of true to life, not necessarily from my own experiences. It is good to have on the screen black women coming together and supporting each other."

For Tracy Williams, the movie struck a familiar chord. "I thought it was great. It was so me. It was so many of my friends. Everybody I know was in that movie. Every man I knew, good or bad, was in that movie."

"I thought the movie was very well done," said Jan Watkins. "I think it held to the story. I don't think it was as derogatory to men as men think it is. It wasn't saying all men are dogs."

Some critics have compared the movie with television soap operas, and Renee Penick offered similar criticism. "I thought it was a little silly, that it was kind of corny," she said. "It skipped some of the parts (in the book). But, it was entertaining."

But Ethel Thompson disagreed. "The movie was great. It was a beautiful movie. I am going to see it again."