Waiting To Exhale Review

Forget Goldeneye, this is the new "bond" movie. The latest addition in that modern genre where angstful women sitting around talking about how nasty old Mr. Life has given them a thorough de-bagging and then finding solace in each other over a bottle of vino. Steel Magnolias, Beaches, Boys On The Side... they just keep on coming.Waiting To Exhale, from the best-selling novel by Terry McMillan (a woman), is a more comedic, if overlong, entry into the canon, looking at the experiences of four black American women. In the unlikely setting of Phoenix, Arizona, these girls are not only middle-class but inhabit a capsule world where their lives are taken on their own terms rather than in relation to white America.In her first starring role after The Bodyguard, Huston proves she can act as Savannah, the sexy TV exec. who's saddled with a married man; Robin (Rochon) is the sleeparound with a penchant for losers; Gloria (Devine) wants more than a cup of sugar from her neighbour; and, most impressively, Bassett is Bernie, who's been dumped by her millionaire hubby.Now we've seen enough of these films to know the score (all men stink etc.), but at least here they have a bit of fun with this - such as in one scene where Robin is the victim of extremely premature ejaculation - though when the movie attempts anything deeper (like with an extraneous tryst between Bernie and a man who's wife is dying), its credibility stretches thin. Nonetheless, this is a reasonably entertaining diversion, all the more surprising then that it was helmed by a bloke, Whitaker. More judicious use of the editing scissors on its two hour length would have improved things greatly.