How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)

USA Today
"...Angela Bassett as Stella is sensuous, sinewy....And she gives off heat and humidity with newcomer Taye Diggs..." 09/11/1998 p.10E

Premiere
"...This female-empowerment manual should have WAITING TO EXHALE fans breathing easily again..." 08/01/1998 p.23

New York Times
"...Ms. Basset's Stella is the best thing in the movie...[She is] proud, combative and fiery....Mr. Diggs imbues Winston with an easy grace and dignity..." 08/14/1998 p.E9

Box Office
"...The emotionally-charged characters and soul-searching scenarios are intriguing..." 10/01/1998 p.55

Los Angeles Times
"...A glossy, good-humored romantic fantasy....It's also another great success for star Angela Bassett..." 08/14/1998 p.C1

San Francisco Examiner 8 of 10
In How Stella Got Her Groove Back, we watch Angela Bassett as the lead character, a woman trying to put pleasure back in her duty-driven life, fall in love with a Jamaican man 20 years her junior, struggle with her own notions of love with a younger man, only to endure searing commentary from her family... With a movie based on the novel of the same title by Terry McMillan, the author who brought us Waiting to Exhale (she collaborated on both screenplays with Ron Bass), you half expect to see humorous trashing of men who think the world of themselves and what they have to offer women - particularly fine women - despite the tires around their waists and the gold rimming their teeth. And you are not disappointed. You get the comic scene of Buddy (Barry "Shabaka" Henley), an ex-professional football player baring his chest and thrusting his hips to a funky beat at a dance party. Unlike the awkward and out-of-shape men in The Full Monty who had no illusions about their seductive qualities, Buddy thinks he's got the vibe going and he aims it straight at Stella. But How Stella Got Her Groove Back is much kinder to men... Despite his youth, Winston has more to offer than his seasoned competition, particularly a chiseled body and a sensitive quality. How Stella Got Her Groove Back is sure to resonate among middle-aged women who are tired of the sparse pickings of available and appealing men. Diggs is indeed enchanting to watch on the screen. This is his feature film debut, but he performed in the Tony-winning Broadway production of Rent. Here, he manages to hold his own opposite Bassett. His winning smile and, oh yes, that body, lure you in along with Stella... To its credit, How Stella Got Her Groove Back plunges right into the difficulties of keeping a relationship going between a woman and man who's young enough to be her son. It's a fun movie - full of laughs and touching moments. Goldberg delivers a hilarious performance as Stella's best friend, a foul-mouth, mischievous and horny New York window dresser who would like nothing more than for Stella to let her hair down. - Venise Wagner
 
ReelViews 8 of 10
You don't have to be an astute student of social trends to recognize that, when it comes to romance and age, American culture is characterized by a severe double standard. While it's perfectly acceptable for an older man to cavort with a much younger woman, if the genders are reversed, it comes close to being a scandal. That's why, on screen, Humphrey Bogart can be romantically linked with Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca), Harrison Ford can pair up with Julia Ormond (Sabrina) or Anne Heche (Six Days, Seven Nights), and Michael Douglas can be married to Gwyneth Paltrow (A Perfect Murder)...When a movie has its middle-aged male lead fall in love with a female co- star two decades his junior, it's so commonplace that it isn't interesting, and the age difference may not be mentioned. However, when the woman has the advantage of age, there are consequences. This is not just a motion picture convention; it's a reality of life. And, in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, a surprisingly low-key romantic melodrama adapted by Ron Bass and Terry McMillan from McMillan's novel, the issues that arise from such a May/September male/female pairing are sensitively and intelligently explored...Like the title, the film is a little too long. However, except for a few slow spots, it makes for an enjoyable two hours. Given the subject matter, it's not surprising that the marketing for How Stella Got Her Groove Back is aimed at the black female audience, but this movie can be enjoyed by members of both genders of any race. It isn't the kind of "chick flick" that will have men looking at their watches every five minutes. And perhaps those who see this film will become a fraction more open-minded about relationships where the partners' age difference bucks the cultural norm. As Stella shows, there are times when the vapid cuteness of a young nymph can't hold a candle to the practiced sensuality of a more mature woman. - James Berardinelli
 
Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
``How Stella Got Her Groove Back'' tries its best to turn a paperback romance into a relationship worth making a movie about, but fails. At the end of the movie we're prepared to concede that Stella may indeed have her groove back, but at a considerable price, and maybe not for long. If a romantic couple feels wrong to the audience, no plot gymnastics can convince us...The movie stars Angela Bassett as Stella, a divorced mom and high-powered San Francisco trader who, as the movie opens, is promising a client a guaranteed 65 percent return on some Russian bonds. Her personal life is lonely, and her sisters advise her to find a man. I'm thinking--if those returns are real, the man will find you...Angela Bassett is an actress with aggressive intelligence, and when she plays a capable, smart woman, she can be fascinating. See her in ``Malcolm X,'' ``Passion Fish,'' ``What's Love Got to Do With It'' and ``Strange Days.'' The problem with ``Stella'' is that she has been given a woman who the screenplay says is smart, but whose intelligence doesn't come into play; if it did, Stella's relationship with Winston would be either briefer, or much more complex. Instead, it's been smoothed down into manufactured suspense about whether these two nice people will find true love...That's where I began. If a couple feels right to an audience, then we cheer for their romance and allow ourselves to care--if only for the length of a silly movie. In ``The Parent Trap,'' a silly movie if ever there was one, there's genuine chemistry between Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson, and so in a dumb way we're cheered by their happiness. In ``How Stella Got Her Groove Back,'' 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. Oh, I believed Winston was blinded by her. But I couldn't believe in Stella's feelings. Even at the end, as they embrace, I was giving them three weeks, tops. - Roger Ebert