i watched 'waiting to exhale' last night. i remember thinking that angela bassett was robbed by not getting an oscar nomination. i think i might have even been holding out hope for a best picture nod.i was young.
angela, of course, acted her behind off. i admit, at certain points in the film, i expected her to bite the furniture and spit it out, like martin lawrence used to do when he played his mama on 'martin.'
the movie itself is not great. it might actually be the first tyler perry film. watching it last night, i saw no difference between 'why did i get married' and 'waiting to exhale.' i might actually say that 'why did i get married' was actually more subtle.
i was cringing through most of the dialogue. the film could be renamed 'platitudes.' white women and black men were shredded to pieces. in truth, three of the four main female characters get involved with married men. somehow though, they get painted as victims of financially strapped, drug addicted, cheating black men and loose white women.
angela and loretta devine made things a bit easier to swallow, because, well...they can act. as a matter of fact, loretta devine is the standout. she didn't set anything on fire, or sleep with a crackhead, but she made her character three dimensional. poor lela made whitney look like meryl streep.
it wasn't all bad. the soundtrack was great. there are some nice moments. the supporting cast was pretty good. i just wonder why this film ever felt empowering to anyone. i couldn't help but think of "the women" (the original) as i watched the film yesterday. "waiting..." in some ways, is a cross between that film and any one of douglas sirk's melodramas.
the true success of the film was that it opened the door for a few more films to be made about black people that didn't involve social services, hookers, cotton, sports etc. although...some of my favorite films do involve social services ("claudine"), hookers ("feast of all saints"), cotton ("once upon a time when we were colored") and sports ("hoop dreams").
