Directed by Forest Whitaker and adapted from a smash best selling novel by Terry McMillan, WAITING TO EXHALE is a glossy, but one-sided look at the relationship between four strong black women and the various men in their lives. The film is one-sided because the screenplay presents most of the male characters as sexist, manipulative pigs without a redeeming characteristic in sight, but the sensitive direction and outstanding performances keep the rather lopsided story watchable. Whitney Houston made an impressive film debut as Savannah, an ambitious television executive caught in a dead-end affair with a married man (Dennis Haysbert). Angela Basset does Oscar-worthy work as Bernadine, a woman who has spent her life being the best wife and mother she knows how to be, who has her world rocked when her wealthy husband (Michael Beach) calmly announces one night before a formal dinner party that he's in love with someone else and wants a divorce. The scene where Bernadine gathers all her husband's stuff and makes a bonfire out of it in her driveway is one of the film's highlights. Lela Rochon plays Robin, a not-too-bright doormat who finds herself pregnant by a man she wants nothing to do with. Loretta Devine is fun as Gloria, a hairdresser who is divorced from her husband, who it turns out was gay, and is struggling to raise her son (Donald Faison) and tries to begin a relationship with a new neighbor (Gregory Hines). If you can accept the fact that in the world of these four women, all men are pigs, then this film can be very entertaining but the top-notch performances by the cast cannot be overlooked.
Review of Waiting to Exhale
