Houston, friends breathe life into Waiting to Exhale

Date: December 23, 1995
By Paul DeLean

From The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)
Submitted by: Larry A.


Whitney Houston has another winner.

The show-stopping pop singer who became a top-drawing movie star with her debut film, The Bodyguard, has followed it up with what looks to be another certain hit.

Waiting to Exhale had some men in the audience waiting to exit, because it portrays males in such unforgiving terms, but women seemed to like it just fine. Terry McMillan, the female author of the 1992 best-seller on which the film is based, co-wrote the screenplay. But the director, surprisingly, is male: Forest Whitaker.

A talented actor seen in such films as Smoke and The Crying Game, Whitaker makes his directing debut here with remarkable flair.

Exhale is the story of four middle-class black women in Phoenix who become a sort of romantic support network following the acrimonious breakup of the marriage of Bernadine (Angela Bassett), the only married one in the group.

Wed to a ruthless business executive, Bernadine is unceremoniously dumped by him after two children and 11 years of marriage.

Her friend Savannah (Houston), 33 and unmarried, has a long-term, long-distance relationship with a married man who seems happy to keep things that way. The voluptuous Robin (Lela Rochon) attracts a steady parade of eager bedmates, but also can't make any commitment.

Gloria (Loretta Devine), a hairdresser whose long-gone husband has since become gay, is raising their 17-year-old son on her own. She's been without romance so long she's almost given up hope of ever seeing it again.

In the course of two hours, the women are wooed and/or dumped by the biggest collection of jerks since Andrew Dice Clay's last arena performance. But they come out of it stronger than they went in.

The movie gets a bit mawkish and obvious at times, but the acting is solid. Of all the female "buddy" movies released this year (How to Make an American Quilt, Moonlight and Valentino, Now and Then), this has the most appealing ensemble cast and the strongest presentation.

Houston doesn't have the showiest role, but she acquits herself ably. Bassett is the one who sets the standard, beautifully conveying the hurt, fear and fury of someone left "with no Plan B" when her marriage disintegrates.

Waiting to Exhale is playing at the Faubourg. Parents' guide: sexual situations, language.

RATING 3