CELEBRATE NEW YEAR'S EVE AT BIG DADDY'S PARTHENON Welcome to the best Greek food this side of Greektown with the best lamb chops and other Greek favorites. 'Waiting To Exhale' Rated R citing to Exhale, Terry McMillan's 1992 novel about the lives of four middle- and upper-mid- dle-class black women struggling with love in Phoenix, struck me as contrived and wooden. The women's characters are differen- tiated more by their decisions than by their interior thoughts, which seemed didactic and forced. In the hands of director Forest Whitaker, however, and through the interpretation of four strong actresses —Angela Bassett, Whit- ney Houston, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon — the movie is much more vital and funny, if not dra- matic. Bassett, who received an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It?, far and away delivers the most moving performance as Bernadine, a talented but frus- trated wife dumped by her hus- band for a white woman. She is the only character who has an actual problem, and Bassett conveys the pain and rage of a scorned woman with awesome ease. Houston, in a role that doesn't demand much, is fine as Savan- nah, a TV producer who has, with her mother's encouragement, car- ried on an off- MOVIES and-on love af- fair with a married man. Ms. Devine as the hairdresser Gloria, who is too busy raising a son to care too much about herself, and Ms. Rochon, as the single woman who uses sex to nab the wrong man over and over again, are charming. They are smart enough, despite poor judgment, but we hear too much about what they think and see too little of what they do — one of the book's flaws. And they engage in shameless male bashing that would embarrass even a mil- itant feminist. With the exception of one male in the film, played by Wesley Snipes, the others that pass through are, at best, slimy. Mr. Snipes' character, a well-spoken civil-rights attorney, reveals to Bernadine that he is devoted to his white wife, who is dying of cancer — a kind of poetic counterpoint to the four women's rage at the white woman who "stole" Bernadine's husband. But that is the only subtlety the movie manages. Because it lacks dramatic tension, Waiting to Ex- hale seems to go on much longer than it should. 1Q.k.) — Julie Edgar MUSIC FEATURING MILLIE SCOTT & KEVIN CROSBY 006000.000000 Your Hosts: Rick Rogow & Tom Peristeris 737-8600 p i Ti eNoN - Now Open 7 Days Accepting Bookings For All Occasions 6199 Orchard Lake Rd. (N. of Maple) • West Bloomfield 'Four Rooms' Rated R ou probably won't find the Mon Signor inAAA's Guide to Five Star Hotels. The rooms are stale and tacky, the bellhop has a nervous tick and the place seems to attract the most undesirable of guests. This dilapi- dated house of lodging is the set- ting for the Miramax release Four Rooms, and chances are you won't find this film on anyone's list of five-star movies, either. Essentially, this is a gimmick production, with four directors each controlling a particular room (and story line) of the Mon Signor Ho- tel on New Year's Eve. Other than location and time, the only common MOVIES thread among the four vignettes is that they are serviced by a bellhop named Ted, played by Tim Roth. This is Ted's first night on the job and before anyone can shout, "Happy New Year," he has been seduced, assaulted, threatened and bribed by a succession of witches, adulterers and assorted scoundrels. Adorned in full bellhop regalia, Tim Roth's twitchy bellboy comes off like the humorless love child of Pee Wee Herman and Jim Carrey. The rest of the movie isn't much better. With a quartet of hot directors including Allison Anders, Alexan- Y - dre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, and a cast featuring Antonio Banderas, Madonna, Marissa Tomei and Jen- nifer Beals, this could have been an enjoyable cinematic experience. Though the concept of several lit- tle movies in one isn't entirely nov- el, having been done previously in New York Stories by Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese, it does lend itself to countless possibilities and can be very appealing to those with a short attention span. Unfortu- nately, Four Rooms resembles a series of "Saturday Night Live" skits that drag on too long. Each segment has an engaging premise that ends up going nowhere, and in no particular hurry. As a result, the audience begins to twitch more than the bellboy. Now, there is nothing wrong with trying fresh approaches to movie making and, in fact, Taran- tino and Company should be laud- ed, at the very least, for taking a chance. But, in limiting the spatial and temporal scope of each vi- gnette, the directors must rely heavily on the strength of the con- cept and the intelligence of their stories, leaving little room for er- ror. In the case of Four Rooms, there is plenty of room for im- provement. —Richard Halprin Get Results... BAR & GRILL H ALSTED VILLAGE 37610 W. 12 MILE ROAD AT HALSTED Advertise in our new Entertainment Section! (810)354-6060 THE JEWISH NEWS :848-900% TY IT 7111' TIT Tlirr • DISC JOCKEY! • DANCING! A VER! ' 018 • NO yomb AND GREAT FON.