How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Kevin Rodney Sullivan

Writers (WGA):

Terry McMillan (novel)
Terry McMillan (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Tagline:

Sometimes you have to break the rules to free your heart.

Plot:

Stella is a highly successful, forty-something San Francisco stock broker who is persuaded by her colorful...

Plot Keywords:

Jamaica | Vacation | Single Parent | Chick Flick | Unemployment

Awards:

4 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Angela Bassett	...	Stella Payne
Taye Diggs	...	Winston Shakespeare
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Delilah Abraham
Regina King	...	Vanessa
Suzzanne Douglas	...	Angela
Michael J. Pagan	...	Quincy Payne
Sicily	...	Chantel
Richard Lawson	...	Jack
Barry Shabaka Henley	...	Buddy
Lee Weaver	...	Nate
Glynn Turman	...	Dr. Shakespeare
Phyllis Yvonne Stickney	...	Mrs. Shakespeare
Denise Hunt	...	Ms. Thang
Lisa Hanna	...	Abby
James Pickens Jr.	...	Walter Payne

Also Known As:

How Stella Got Her Groove Back On (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Iceland:L | USA:R (certificate #36023) | Argentina:13 | Chile:14

Filming Locations:

Glendale Exchange, Glendale, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Angela Bassett was planning her nuptials with then-fiancé Courtney B. Vance when cast in the lead role. The start of production kept being pushed back by producer Deborah Schindler which was a blessing and a curse for Bassett. The continued delay of production gave her ample time to get her body in perfect shape for the film but it also prevented her from being able to set a definite date for her wedding. Determined to get married in the fall of 1997, Bassett and Vance stood their ground and set a firm date for the ceremony, October 17, 1997, by that point Bassett had been filming for about a month on "Stella."

Goofs:

Continuity: While Stella and Winston argue in the restaurant, the level of wine in her glass keeps changing.

Quotes:

Stella: So how old are you anyway young man?
Winston Shakespeare: Well, I'll be 21 on my next birthday so I guess that makes me 20. And how old are you young lady?
Stella: 40
Winston Shakespeare: No truthfully.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in How Shipwreck Got His Groove Back (2004)

Soundtrack:

The Art Of Seduction

**1/2 Film has no groove even if Stella does

Stella gets her groove back, alright, but the film is still in need by the time you get to the end credits. Angela Bassett gives a kick-ass performance in the title role as a fortysomething woman who can't decide what to do when she falls in love with twenty-one year-old Taye Diggs while on vacation at a resort in Jamaica. Do 'im is what I say: if a woman like Bassett looks that good at the age of forty she deserves the best of everything. Besides, Diggs doesn't look nearly young enough for the part, and that keeps reality at bay for the two and some odd hours that the film runs at. The scene where teenage girls get in line behind the couple at a movie theatre and give Stella dirty looks for robbing the cradle always puzzles me; if I were that young an age and found myself standing behind Angela Bassett I'd be asking her what kind of skin creams does she use and does she work out and maybe there might be a portrait hidden in her attic that has all her sins hanging off it? Whoopi Goldberg gives the best and funniest performance in the film, but even she can't prevent the script by Ronald Bass and Terry McMillan (upon whose novel this is based) from seeming like it's two or three drafts short of being finished. Watch it if only for a great soundtrack and some beautiful photography of Jamaica's beaches.