Waiting to Exhale (1995)

As Good As It Gets

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

1995 was a year of the awakening of women, in general. At least an awakening that they were in an era where they were not beholden to be 'like momma'. I never saw this movie on the big screen. That was probably because it came out only two years after I had ended my own affair. I suppose that, in 1995, the angst of dealing with infidelity did not make one want to watch a movie that includes a lot of infidelity. In the end, as became my lesson in life, the movie is about four different women dealing with male problems in different ways. So, watching this movie some two decades after going through a healing process, I could laugh at the realities that were portrayed while celebrating that being alive leads us through various situations because we are indeed different as men and women. The movie is, therefore, while old and not a break down the door to see event, worth the watch.... as a chick flick or a guy 'bin there and was arrogant/insensitive like that' reflection

Honestly, I didn't hate this movie as much as most others on here, but it does have some considerable flaws. Now first off, I'm usually not one of those race baiting affirmative action types. But it struck me about half way through this movie that nobody we've met is Hispanic. Hello! Not even any minor characters. Seriously even in 1995 at least half of Arizona was Hispanic. Had to be. All of the main characters in this film however are black, and a few of the supporting cast is white, but that's it! And of course, the white people are generally bad, inconsequential, or not to be trusted. Anyway, about the plot....The story deals with four 30 something black women who cannot find a good man who isn't already married. Three of them at one point or another sleep with married men, two of them hoping that the married man will one day divorce their wives. Another woman's husband leaves her on New Year's Eve to be with his mistress after openly confessing the affair and his desire for their marriage to be over. But apparently the worst thing about that is the fact that his mistress is (gasp!) a white woman! In fact the wife (Bassett) seems more upset about that fact than anything. Since the concept of black men sleeping with and or settling down with white women is brought up more than once during the film in a negative way, one wonders how many men chose white women over author Terry McMillan. Maybe some of these black women might broaden their horizons and perhaps look for love outside their own skin color once in a while. Yet this film never even presents that as the slightest possibility for any of these characters.The film is never boring though, and has strong acting performances from most of the characters. The cast is full of easily recognizable faces and names. Even Leon from Madonna's Like a Prayer video has a role as one of the men in these women's lives. The film shows many different potential suitors for these ladies, but also gives most of them a fatal flaw why he cannot be husband material. By the end of the film, only two of the four seem to have found good men, while the other two have at least come to their senses about the men they liked best. These women are very attractive, and the whole production feels like a big budget soap opera. Whitney Houston looks especially fine as this was made before Bobby Brown had her all strung out on crack. Antoine Fuqua's wife Lela Rochon is quite a site as well. Angela Bassett looks better in how Stella Got Her Groove Back. Her hair is just too short here after she cuts if off in a rage. And for all you in the audience who like a woman with meat on her bones, you'll love Loretta Devine. And her character seems the most grounded of the four. She doesn't chase after married men. She has enough trouble looking after her son. The film isn't great but I was never bored. And that isn't bad considering it lasts for two whole hours. Not a bad feature debut from director Forrest Whitaker. 6 of 10 stars.

While this movie truly is bound to be more appealing to women than men, it is a touching story of four best friends. How they stick together and grow together through life's mistakes, joys, and bad taste in men. I love Angela Bassett and she is outstanding in this movie. The other 3 ladies, Whitney,Lela, and Loretta do great jobs too. This movie is filled with sweet moments, great laughter, and maybe some tears. Just a wonderful movie that shows what friendship is about. I have not read the book, but I have heard many times that the book is better... but hey thats true for almost every book turned movie. So all I know is I love this movie, and every time I watch it, it gives me great pleasure. Not too mention the soundtrack is fabulous! Whitney, Brandy, Babyface,Faith Evans,and Mary J Blige make the music in the film absolutely great.

I have the video of this movie and it grew on me as time passed. It's not a great movie but it is enjoyable and as has been pointed out by others, it feels good to see a movie about women of color for a change. However, the movie would not have been watchable without the formidable talents of Angela Bassett and Loretta Devine. I felt that they really were Bernadine and Gloria -- even their smallest gestures were in tune with their characters. I don't have the words to describe what fine actors these ladies are and their skills are right up there with Debra Winger, Holly Hunter, Alfre Woodard and others.Gloria seemed to be the only moral woman in the lot. She was adorable as an overweight, insecure no-nonsense business woman and mother. She didn't think she was worthy of love because of her weight, but she was the only one who found it (and deserved it). She was the only one who didn't sleep around, wasn't a man basher, set a good example for her son, and gave good advice to her girlfriends. The other three could learn a lot from her. Loretta Devine has a really beautiful face -- look past the weight and for those of you who judge people by such things, her skin color. She has wonderfully expressive eyes and attractive features. I think it was noteworthy that Gregory Hines' character saw her real beauty and responded to it. His character was a decent, good man and I'm glad this was addressed in the movie.Angela Bassett has always been one of my favorite actors. She is the total package --- beauty and talent. Her character wasn't perfect but Bernadine did take responsibility for the mistakes she made in her life. She was so much better off without that reprehensible excuse for a husband in her life - she could now start her catering business, she had a possible new love in her future and she had good friends that would always be there for her. I was as happy for her as if I were really one of her girlfriends when things turned out well for her in the end.Lela Rochon didn't display any acting talent here and wasn't quite up to the job of conveying Robin's vulnerability and immaturity. She was little more than a tearaway that slept around and made dumb choices. In the book, you realized that Robin had a lot of love to give a man and didn't seem to know how to choose a good one to bestow it on. She was obviously beautiful and decently educated but she lacked common sense and had never really gotten over her betrayal by a man she had really loved. Her mother was a cancer survivor and her father suffered from advance Alzheimer's disease. I don't feel they rounded out this character at all and she didn't seem like an actual person. Just a cute slut who wondered why she got used by men.Poor Whitney has no acting skills whatsoever! Every character she attempts to portray is exactly the same -- Whitney Houston being well groomed, pretending to be well spoken and classy, and looking cow eyed at whatever male actor she is paired with. Its a shame because Savannah should have been played by someone like Angela Bassett or Kimberly Elise (although she might have been too young). The character had to tell us she was smart -- in a phone conversation with her mother she said "I'm smart, I'm a good person and I work hard." Thank goodness she told us because we sure wouldn't have known otherwise. She has sex with a man she doesn't like at all and doesn't even know well and then has an affair with a married man and calls him scum! She has poor conversational skills, doesn't really seem interested in her friends'problems and preferred to roll her big eyes and act as if she were so above whatever little difficulties they were going through. Savannah would be such a waste of time for any man unless she took a long hard look at herself. She deserved to be by herself at the end.This movie might have been better with a female director, as Forest Whitaker didn't "tell this story" properly at all. We ended up not liking or caring about the characters because we really didn't get a strong sense of who they were.Also, was it me, or was everything in this movie either orange or blue?