Whitaker, Forest

Hope Floats

A young woman whose cheating husband reveals his infidelity to her on a national tv talk show is devastated. She heads home to her mother & the small town she left behind only to learn its never too late to give love another chance. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/13/2009 Starring: Sandra Bullock Gena Rowlands Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Forest Whitaker

Cute-as-a-button Sandra Bullock is a homemaker who learns that her husband and best friend are having an affair. The so-called best friend reveals this information on a national chat show, leaving Bullock devastated and disgraced. Heading back to her small hometown in Texas, she seeks refuge with her eccentric mother. Laconic Harry Connick Jr., a former high-school classmate, attempts to bring Bullock out of her depression and win her heart. He has, you see, been carrying a torch for her since they were kids.

You will not need a crystal ball to see where this is going. It works as a middling romance, but is an annoying waste of potential. The script has much to say about finding your true identity, but does so with all the sentimentality and depth of a Hallmark card. --Rochelle O'Gorman

First Daughter

Once upon a time there lived a lovely girl named samantha. She had everything she could wish for & lived in a beautiful white house. The white house! a sheltered girl just wants a normal school experience. Trouble is her dad is the president of the united states. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/09/2007 Starring: Katie Holmes Marc Blucas Run time: 115 minutes Rating: Pg

Playing the president's kin in the modern fairy tale First Daughter is the most grown-up role yet for Dawson's Creek cutie Katie Holmes. Samantha McKenzie (Holmes) has lived all her life on the edge of the political spotlight, but she hopes that she'll get away from it all when she leaves the White House for college. No such luck. Even though she's able to make friends with her roommate (singer Amerie) and meet a nice guy (Marc Blucas), security is tight in an election year, and the Secret Service follows her wherever she goes. First Daughter isn't particularly original (it was the working title for Mandy Moore's Chasing Liberty, which opened in theaters earlier the same year, 2004), but it's a chuckle-inducing girlie movie that's worth watching for Holmes. Also, Michael Keaton is especially likable as a president and dad. That's a big change for Holmes, who as Dawson's Creek's Joey Potter was a poster child for daughters with dysfunctional fathers. --David Horiuchi

Waiting to Exhale

Based on a novel by Terry McMillan, this weepy melodrama about four African American women and the men who wronged them became an instant cultural phenomenon when it was released back in 1995. It's easy to see why Exhale struck a nerve: the movie boasts an attractive cast of African American actresses and personalities, including Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, and Lela Rochon. Unfortunately, though, Exhale sags under the weight of its soapy, crisis of the week plotting and relentlessly cheery "you go, girl!" optimism. And African American men, cast here as insensitive lovers and pigheaded materialists, get the very short end of the feminist stick. Perhaps moviegoers were simply responding to the brilliant soundtrack by R&B superstar Babyface, who provided the movie's only real groove. --Ethan Brown

Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett star in this funny and touching film about four women who find strength through their rare and special relationship. Savannah, Bernadine, Robin and Gloria are all searching for the Real Thing: true love. Bernadine thought she had it, until her husband left her for another woman. Savannah and Robin are successful in business but their love lives are bankrupt. And divorcee Gloria is getting back in the game by flirting with her new, very eligible neighbor. Based on Terry McMillan's best-selling novel, and featuring the #1 smash hit "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)," "Waiting to Exhale" is the film you and your friends have been waiting for! Original score by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.

Strapped

Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 08/30/2005

Waiting to Exhale

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/06/2009 Run time: 124 minutes Rating: R

Based on a novel by Terry McMillan, this weepy melodrama about four African American women and the men who wronged them became an instant cultural phenomenon when it was released back in 1995. It's easy to see why Exhale struck a nerve: the movie boasts an attractive cast of African American actresses and personalities, including Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, and Lela Rochon. Unfortunately, though, Exhale sags under the weight of its soapy, crisis of the week plotting and relentlessly cheery "you go, girl!" optimism. And African American men, cast here as insensitive lovers and pigheaded materialists, get the very short end of the feminist stick. Perhaps moviegoers were simply responding to the brilliant soundtrack by R&B superstar Babyface, who provided the movie's only real groove. --Ethan Brown

Movies With Soul Collection (How Stella Got Her Groove Back / Waiting to Exhale / Soul Food)

Disc 1: Soul Food Disc 2: How Stella Got Her Groove Back Disc 3: Waiting to Exhale

It's a Love Thang Boxset (Brown Sugar / How Stella Got Her Groove Back / Waiting to Exhale)

Includes:Brown SugarThis romantic comedy described as an African-American When Harry Met Sally... centers on a romance between an A&R exec Dre (Diggs) at a hip-hop label and a magazine editor Sidney (Lathan) who have known each other since childhood. (Latifah plays Lathan's best friend. They find themselves drifting towards being more than friends even as Dre is engaged (to Parker) and Sidney starts being wooed by a handsome basketball player (Kodjoe).How Stella Got Her Groove BackStella (Angela Bassett) is a highly successful forty-something San Francisco stock broker who is persuaded by her colorful New York girlfriend Delilah (Whoopi Goldberg) to take a well deserved first-class vacation to Jamaica. As she soaks in the beauty of the island she encounters a strapping young islander Winston Shakespeare (Taye Diggs). His pursuits for her turn into a hot and steamy romance that forces Stella to take personal inventory of her life and try to find a balance between her desire for love and companionship and the responsibilities of mother and corporate executive.Waiting To ExhaleWhitney Houston and Angela Bassett star in this funny and touching film about four women who find strength through their rare and special relationship. Savannah Bernadine Robin and Gloria are all searching for the Real Thing: true love. Bernadine thought she had it until her husband left her for another woman. Savannah and Robin are successful in business but their love lives are bankrupt. And divorcee Gloria is getting back in the game by flirting with her new very eligible neighbor. Based on Terry McMillan's best-selling novel and featuring the #1 smash hit "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" "Waiting to Exhale" is the film you and your friends have been waiting for! Original score by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 024543396659 Manufacturer No: 2239665

Brown Sugar: One of 2002's most underrated films, Brown Sugar offers more than you'd expect from a conventional romantic comedy. The love story between Dre (Taye Diggs) and Sidney (Sanaa Lathan) is the least interesting part of the movie; the costars have delightful chemistry, but their hookup is a given. What's refreshing is the way the story draws a parallel between Dre and Sidney's longtime friendship (they meet as kids in a 1984 flashback) and the evolution of hip-hop music from urban roots to dubious mainstream acceptance. Dre's a disillusioned producer at pop-fueled Millennium Records, married to a beauty (Nicole Ari Parker) who cheats while embracing her coveted status quo. Editor of an influential music magazine, Sidney's tentatively engaged to a basketball star (Boris Kodjoe), but these loves are obstacles, and Dre and Sidney are meant for each other. In bringing them together, Brown Sugar allows for human mistakes, intelligent solutions, and the kind of three-dimensional behavior that romantic comedies typically don't provide. --Jeff Shannon

How Stella Got Her Groove Back: Based on Terry McMillan's best-selling novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back stars Angela Bassett as a 40-year-old, Manhattan stock trader and single mom whose static life gets a jolt during a vacation with her pal (Whoopi Goldberg) in Jamaica. Sparks fly when Bassett meets a 20-year-old stud (Taye Diggs) who has an ambivalent career path but a great body and lots of sexual energy to burn. After some prodding by Goldberg's warm-funny secondary character, Bassett gets it on with the fellow--and proceeds to worry about what she's doing with a man half her age. The film is most enjoyable in its sunny, exotic early scenes and becomes more formulaic once the unlikely couple transports their will-we-stay-together-or-won't-we tensions back to the Big Apple. But director Kevin Rodney Sullivan goes out of his way to make a movie unabashedly thick with fantasy and wish-fulfillment for female audiences (it's Diggs who reveals a lot more flesh than the regal Bassett). This is a Saturday-night movie all around. --Tom Keogh

Waiting to Exhale: Based on a novel by Terry McMillan, this weepy melodrama about four African American women and the men who wronged them became an instant cultural phenomenon when it was released back in 1995. It's easy to see why Exhale struck a nerve: the movie boasts an attractive cast of African American actresses and personalities, including Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, and Lela Rochon. Unfortunately, though, Exhale sags under the weight of its soapy, crisis of the week plotting and relentlessly cheery "you go, girl!" optimism. And African American men, cast here as insensitive lovers and pigheaded materialists, get the very short end of the feminist stick. Perhaps moviegoers were simply responding to the brilliant soundtrack by R&B superstar Babyface, who provided the movie's only real groove. --Ethan Brown

Love 3 Pack (Hope Floats / Down with Love / One Fine Day)

Includes the following titles:

Disk 1: HOPE FLOATS Disk 2: ONE FINE DAY Disk 3: DOWN WITH LOVE

Sandra Bullock Celebrity Pack (Speed / Hope Floats / Love Potion No. 9)

Includes:Hope FloatsLove Potion #9SpeedFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 024543266853 Manufacturer No: 2236685

Hope Floats

When Birdee Pruitt's husband reveals his infidelity to her, she is devasted and returns home with her young daughter to the small town she left behind. As mother and daughter struggle to adjust to their new lives, Birdee slowly gains the strength to openher heart and find hope again.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 8-JAN-2002
Media Type: DVD

Cute-as-a-button Sandra Bullock is a homemaker who learns that her husband and best friend are having an affair. The so-called best friend reveals this information on a national chat show, leaving Bullock devastated and disgraced. Heading back to her small hometown in Texas, she seeks refuge with her eccentric mother. Laconic Harry Connick Jr., a former high-school classmate, attempts to bring Bullock out of her depression and win her heart. He has, you see, been carrying a torch for her since they were kids.

You will not need a crystal ball to see where this is going. It works as a middling romance, but is an annoying waste of potential. The script has much to say about finding your true identity, but does so with all the sentimentality and depth of a Hallmark card. --Rochelle O'Gorman