Waiting to Exhale

Director: Forest Whitaker

1995 / 124min / 35mm

Whitaker, adapting Terry McMillan’s bestseller of the same name, brings together Angela Bassett, Lela Rochon, Loretta Devine, and Whitney Houston—who sings “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” on the film’s stacked, Babyface-produced soundtrack—as four Phoenix women who regularly convene to discuss their lives and loves, finding a strength in sisterhood that equips them to face the world individually.

"The last time I watched Waiting to Exhale in theaters was with three friends, in an audience full of groups of friends, too. I write about that night in No Fault, as well as author Terry McMillan's place in the canon of divorce literature adapted into beloved movies; it's an ideal film to watch shoulder-to-shoulder with your loves."