Waiting To Exhale 1996, Rated R Twentieth Century Fox

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Starring Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett.

Waiting to Exhale had all the so called money-making, Hollywood hype attached to it to create a meaningful picture--best selling author Terry McMillan, sultry songstress Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Gregory Hines, and a cameo by Wesley Snipes--but these elements are used as decoys to lure the unsuspecting audience into the dastardly jaws of soap opera escapades of the script. The pre-movie serenade led one to believe that it was the true pomp and circumstance for all Black women. Let me say that this is not the case. I was offended by both the misrepresentations and falsehoods shown in this poor excuse for a movie.

Waiting to Exhale is about four lost, confused, weeping wallowers--desperate Black females who have no idea, concept or image of what real Black womanhood is about. They attempt to repress their lack of meaningful relationships with repeated sexual encounters. These females are made out to be victims of the wrath of the diabolical Black male. You do not see the proud, honorable Black women who would never accept such disrespect from other people. You do not see the Black women who are in touch with their role as matriarchal figures who are proud of their ancestry to the point that they would never be obsessed with materialism. And most obviously missing is the example of Black men and women working together proudly, to dismantle obstacles in front of their positive progression. Instead, you will see a very unimaginative plot with tiresome and terminal supermarket tabloid-type tricks at each turn. Every cheap emotional shot that could have been used to keep the audience's attention was used. A black male leaves a black female for a white female on New Year's Eve. Another black male is bisexual, and leaves another black female for a male. Sleeping around and adultery are also prominently featured, thanks to the other two black females. It almost seems like Waiting to Exhale 's director, Forest Whitaker, just put on screen all of the possible emotional attention getters that he could think of at one sitting. And when the action become tedious, again, Whitaker throws another uncreative, boring, culturally neutered epithet at the viewer.

Promiscuity is smeared across the screen at every available chance and prevalent in every conversation. I don't recommend letting your children pick this video, unless you don't mind them wading through a series of pornographic scenes, whose only safe sex message is that one of the females hands her fifth bed partner of the movie a condom to use. If this is the safe sex message you are counting on your children seeing, you'd better enroll them in an AIDS prevention class in a hurry.

After screening Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored, I can no longer accept that there are limitations in content and theme in adapting a screenplay from a novel. If the writers and directors of said projects are creative, they can, and do, bring new dimensions, characters, and images to the screen, that were previously thought impossible. Waiting to Exhale, however, has all the making of Jerry Springer show with all its implausible loony toons. Crazy born-again blaxploitation films like these reinforce stereotypical imagery, clown-like behavior, and provide the fuel necessary to substantiate continued disrespect toward Black people. The Black community should never accept this type of foolhardy film making. We deserve better. I expect so much more from a video, especially with such a limited selection of films to choose from. This is one movie better left unseen.

-- Jill Bunton