How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)

48% of critics liked it
(48 reviews)
71% of users liked it
(30,660 ratings)

Terry McMillan and Ron Bass wrote this screenplay based on McMillan's semi-autobiographical best-selling novel (over 2,000,000 copies in print before the release of this film). San Francisco stockbroker Stella (Angela Bassett), a 40-year-old divorcee, has a nice Marin County home and an 11-year-old… More Terry McMillan and Ron Bass wrote this screenplay based on McMillan's semi-autobiographical best-selling novel (over 2,000,000 copies in print before the release of this film). San Francisco stockbroker Stella (Angela Bassett), a 40-year-old divorcee, has a nice Marin County home and an 11-year-old son, Quincy (Michael J. Pagan). With Quincy off to see his dad, Stella and her best friend Delilah (Whoopi Goldberg) vacation in Jamaica, where she meets sexy, good-looking Winston Shakespeare (Taye Diggs). He's the man of her dreams in every way except one -- he's half her age. Even so, a romance develops. Grammy Award-winning songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis supervised the film's music and produced the R&B-slanted soundtrack album. Shown at the 1998 Urbanworld Film Festival (NY). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr. 4 min.
Directed By: Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Written By: Terry McMillan, Ron Bass
Genres: Drama, Romance, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 14, 1998 Wide
On DVD: Mar 6, 2001
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
The movie meanders on and on, like a bad sexual dream, until you finally wake up mumbling: Stella, please: leave that groove thang alone.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Delivers guilt-free escapism about pretty people having wicked-hot fun in pretty places.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Stella may be frothy and paper-thin, but it's also another great success for star Angela Bassett, who transforms the film into an infomercial for her considerable abilities.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
I never felt Stella and Winston were on the same wavelength, that they could share their lives, that it would be a good idea for them to try.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Ms. Bassett portrays this high-strung superwoman with such intensity that she makes her almost believable.
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
It's scrumptious junk food for the brain -- tasty and probably not the least bit good for you.
Frank Ochieng, TheWorldJournal.com
The "Groove" is on the move in Sullivan's ethnically snappy and exotic May-December romancer. Bassett and Diggs make for a sizzling couple
John R. McEwen, Film Quips Online
There's only one thing missing from this story, and it's the main ingredient: conflict.
Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer
Gives Angela Bassett the full star treatment, and she gives it right back.
Christine James, Boxoffice Magazine
There is insufficient chemistry, more tension and fighting than romance, and no epiphanal moment to demonstrate that Stella has indeed gotten her groove back.
Nina Caplan, Sight and Sound
Stella's groove, like the film itself, doesn't run deep.

Read all 11 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Candy R

Great cast about a 40 plus stock broker on vacation in Jamaica.
danny d

a movie about angry women
Brian R

This film is so fake. A shame because actresses like Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg is one of my fav's but too bad they were in this. Such a waste.
Marcus W

Likeable chick-flick that mainly deals with whether a relationship can work around a 20 year age difference. It even chucks in "best friend dying of cancer" half way through but still manages to stay upbeat about it. And it's surprisingly well shot. But I had to remove… More
Likeable chick-flick that mainly deals with whether a relationship can work around a 20 year age difference. It even chucks in "best friend dying of cancer" half way through but still manages to stay upbeat about it. And it's surprisingly well shot. But I had to remove half a star because there's a desperate rush to the airport at the end.
Lee K

not bad for a chick flick
Leo L

Interesting!