‘Exhale’ breathed life into genre

By Susan King

Tribune News Service

It was an unlikely hit – a comedy-drama about four African-American female friends dealing with issues of romance, careers and fulfillment.

But when “Waiting to Exhale” opened two decades ago this holiday season, the movie not only became a breakout success but also touched a cultural nerve with an underserved audience.

“‘Waiting to Exhale’ was important 20 years ago because it gave black women a voice and brought attention to their ideas on love and marriage,” actress Loretta Devine said in an email interview. Devine played Gloria, a beautician, in the film.

“Now, like then, women want the world to know what women want.”

Beloved by audiences who made it into a true word-of-mouth success – not to mention the subject of countless water-cooler discussions – “Waiting to Exhale” demonstrated how potent a force women could be at the box office.

It led to a new generation of movies that explored similar themes with ethnic casts, such as “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” and “The Best Man.”

Based on Terry McMillan’s best-selling 1992 novel – it had sold 3 million copies by the time the movie was released – the movie starred the late Whitney Houston as Savannah, a young woman with a married boyfriend who moves from Denver to Phoenix to take on a job and reunite with her three closest friends.

Though the book and movie were centered on the lives of African-Americans, the audience for both transcended ethnic boundaries.