Enjoy A Breath Of Normalcy
Strong Acting And A Thoughtful Story Make 'Waiting To Exhale' A Pleasure

Date: December 22, 1995
By Jay Boyar, Movie Critic

From The Ottawa Citizen
Submitted by: Larry A.


Midway through Waiting to Exhale, it suddenly hit me that this film features some of the most "normal" stories about African Americans that I've seen on the big screen in quite some time.

No guns, no car chases, no explosions. And no pratfalls or vampires, either.

Just a pretty nice group of people dealing with their love lives, and doing so with as much humor and dignity as possible.

It took only a few minutes more for me to realize that Waiting to Exhale is one of the most "normal" films I have seen lately about any kind of Americans. And also one of the most engaging.

In this slice-of-life production, we meet four young (or youngish) women - all friends, all black, all living in Phoenix. The plot begins on New Year's Eve and follows them for what turns out to be a very significant year in their lives.

The year starts off badly for Bernadine (Angela Bassett), whose businessman husband of 11 years abruptly informs her that he is leaving her for another woman.

It's bad enough that she has sacrificed her own career for his. The "other woman" happens to be white, a fact that Bernadine regards as adding insult to injury.

Savannah (Whitney Houston) is Bernadine's TV-producer friend, who recently has come to town from Denver.

For Savannah, the search for love has become a series of increasingly frustrating disappointments. She feels she is "waiting to exhale" - that is, waiting to breathe a sign of relief when Mr. Right comes along.

Then there's Gloria (Loretta Devine), a beautician who has not stopped waiting but has almost convinced herself that she has.

Her ex-husband (whom she still loves) informs her early in the film that he is gay. Not long after that, her 17-year-old son - the only man left in her life - insists that he wants to travel through Spain.

Rounding out the quartet is Robin (Lela Rochon), a sexually adventurous business professional who finds herself repeatedly drawn to the wrong kind of man.

The kind that lies and cheats, that is.

You grow to care about each of these four friends specifically, but Waiting to Exhale is also about the war between the sexes in general. Each scene is an example of how things often go wrong between women and men, and that's really what ties the stories together.

"You know what we all have in common?" Savannah asks the others at a birthday party for Gloria. "None of us - not none of us - have a man."

Based on the best seller of the same name by Terry McMillan, Waiting to Exhale features a lot of mellow rhythm 'n' blues on its soundtrack (which contains a score and songs by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds). In fact, the soundtrack's spirit infuses the entire production, which glides gracefully from episode to episode, like a musician switching keys.

The film was directed by Forest Whitaker - the fine actor from Species, Bird and The Crying Game - from a script by McMillan and Ronald Bass (The Joy Luck Club).

Whitaker directs much as he acts, with a floating and softly mysterious style. There's something appealingly unfocused about his work.

Or, rather, he lets you find your own focus.

This director elicits compelling work from his quartet of stars.

Houston gives a genuinely affecting performance as Savannah. You can try to dismiss Houston as just another singer who wants to make it in movies, but there's something tough and sweet about her that comes across on the screen.

Devine (TV's A Different World), as Gloria, seems wise and yet surprisingly vulnerable while Rochon (Boomerang), as Robin, has an infectious joie de vivre.

It's Bassett (Strange Days, A Vampire in Brooklyn), however, who walks off with the movie. As the abandoned Bernadine, her anger is elemental. Yet behind her blind rage is something else - something that marks her as a survivor.

This film is unquestionably about women and their feelings. But there are at least a few good roles for males here.

Donald Adeosun Faison plays Gloria's son, Mykelti Williamson (Bubba in Forrest Gump) is cast as one of Robin's suitors, and Gregory Hines is Gloria's new neighbor.

Wesley Snipes pops up as a new man in Bernadine's life, and the scene of their meeting is among the most deeply felt of the year. It's wonderful to have actors of the caliber of Snipes and Bassett together onscreen, dealing with real emotions.

Waiting to Exhale is not without flaws.

The episodic narrative sometimes gets a little fuzzy or repetitious. And the film may be attacked for concentrating exclusively on people at the upper end of the socio-economic spectrum.

It should also be said that men without healthy egos or good senses of humor should think twice about venturing out to this movie. Even though it was directed by a male, our gender does not come off especially well.

But for those who can get past that, Waiting to Exhale may be like a breath of fresh air.