WAITING TO EXHALE
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
The good things to be said about WAITING TO EXHALE can be summed up in a few words: it has given employment to many black actors as well as a black director. Having said that, there is little else good that merits more than 2 Bytes.
For instance, of the four starring actresses, three of them are beautiful in the sense that white people look upon beauty. I suspect that blacks look upon them as white beauties with dark skin. Further, while it is not written in The Ten Commandments that every film about blacks should be meaningful in the sense that films by Spike Lee are, it would still be nice if the film did not have 4 women who, whatever the reason, smoked, drank, went to bed with men after a slight meeting, held conversations that were always sexual and whose lives seemed to be devoted only to finding "a man."
Where, I kept asking myself, are the role models which the blacks need? For years, Savannah (Whitney Houston) has been asking God to send her a decent man. Then there is Bernadine (Angela Bassett) whose husband announces he is leaving her to marry his white secretary. How does she deal with it? She sets his fancy car and clothes on fire. Robin (Lela Rochon) is business-wise but man-stupid. Lastly, we have Gloria (Loretta Devine) who is on the heavy side, the most sensible of the lot.
All the women are well-dressed, live in beautifully decorated apartments. One wonders how the average black will relate to these characters? The normal looking men have the supporting roles: Gregory Hines, Dennis Haysbert, Mykelti Williamson, Michael Beach and Leon.
There is no question that the acting rings true and the directing is on target but the story . . .
Directed by Forest Whitaker
2 Bytes
4 bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed 2 Bytes = So So 1 Byte = Save your money.
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