No waiting for reaction to 'Exhale'
No reason for men to get so steamed

Date: January 05, 1996
By Leonard Greene

From The Boston Herald
Submitted by: Larry A.


This one's for all the black men, white men and any other kind of men made uncomfortable by the multimillion-dollar movie, "Waiting to Exhale."

Stop holding your breath.

Just because women want to sit in a movie theater and celebrate their sometimes neglected womanhood is no reason for the rest of us to build a sociological bomb shelter and run into it for protection.

Unless you are cheating on your wife, neglecting your spouse or using your girlfriend's toothbrush, this movie is not about you.

Even if you are involved in any of the above-mentioned activities, this movie is still not about you; it's about the women with whom these types of men interact. And the sooner we understand that, the sooner men and women can move on to more important debates.

Just as the Million Man March was not designed to offend white people or black women, Terry McMillan's book and movie was not written and produced to offend black men.

Although the film has received critical acclaim and is setting box-office records, it has been panned in some circles as a weapon for bashing black men.

Much of this concern is generated by the revolving door of losers, snakes and con artists who pop in and out of the lives of the film's four black women whose friendship, in part, is cemented by similarly frustrating experiences with men.

Savannah, portrayed by Whitney Houston, dumps a suave freeloader, only to rekindle a flame with an old boyfriend whose only flaw is his wife.

Bernadine (Angela Bassett) loses her husband of 10 years and the father of her two children to his white bookkeeper, despite helping him build their million-dollar company.

Robin (Lela Rochon) keeps falling for the same type of men, most of whom lack honesty and substance and only want her for one thing.

Gloria (Loretta Devine) has the best luck of the bunch: a budding romance with a new neighbor. But that comes only after learning her ex-husband and son's father is gay.

As men in the film go, there are no gold medal winners. Even one of the nicer, sensitive ones, portrayed by Wesley Snipes, does not let being married - to a white woman, it turns out -keep him from romancing Bernadine.

Yet there is no reason to believe any of these men are meant to represent all black men.

"It's not a statement about African-American men," said Deborah Schindler, the movie's producer, in an interview.

"It's a statement about women and their choices."

Schindler said she was attracted to the project from the beginning and was pleased to be a part of a story that had never been told before on the silver screen.

"Part of the phenomenon is that it's a story from a woman's point of view," Schindler said, "and I think that's threatening to men."

For a movie that is supposed to be so critical of black men, "Waiting to Exhale" did much to promote them.

Among the black men involved in the movie were Forest Whitaker, who directed the film, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, who wrote much of the music for the soundtrack, and Snipes, a box office star.

Snipes reportedly believed in the project so much that he settled for only a small role and no film credit.

Ironically, much of the noise over the movie's portrayal of black men has been generated by white men, who dominate the world of film critics.

"Waiting to Exhale" opened as No. 1 at the box office, grossing more than $ 14.1 million in its first weekend. The novel, from which the movie is adapted, is also No. 1 on most paperback lists.

Such showings demonstrate a power in publishing and film circles never before seen among African-American women. While many are celebrating this emerging clout, such economic vitality is bound to make more than a few people uncomfortable.

There is also discomfort among insecure men, as women flock to theaters in groups, often to discuss the movie later over dinner or drinks.

Men: fear not. If your wife or girlfriend would rather see the movie with her friends the first time, don't feel so threatened.

Just ask her to see it with you, too. Chances are she's dying to see it again.