''How Stella Got Her Groove Back'' is a 1998 American romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Kevin Rodney Sullivan Kevin Rodney Sullivan (born August 3, 1958) is an American film and television actor and film director. Early life and acting career Sullivan is a native of San Francisco who began his career as a child actor. He grew up in St. Francis Square in ...

, adapted from

Terry McMillan Terry McMillan (born October 18, 1951) is an American novelist. Her work centers around the experiences of Black women in the United States. Early life McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan. She received a B.A. in journalism in 1977 from ...

's best-selling 1996 novel of the same title. The film stars

Angela Bassett Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award ...

Taye Diggs Scott Leo "Taye" Diggs (born January 2, 1971) is an American stage and film actor. He is known for his roles in the Broadway musicals ''Rent'' and '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', the TV series ''Private Practice'' (2007-2013), ''Murder in the ...

(in his film debut),

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

, and

Regina King Regina Rene King (born January 15, 1971) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019, ''Time'' magazine named her one ...

. The original music score was composed by

Michel Colombier Michel Colombier (23 May 1939 – 14 November 2004) was a French composer, arranger, and conductor. Career Colombier wrote the scores of several motion pictures and TV productions. He also wrote chamber music and ballets. With composer Pierre H ...

Plot

Stella Payne is a very successful 40-year-old stockbroker raising her son, Quincy, and living in

Marin County, California Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...

, who is persuaded by her best friend from college, Delilah Abraham, to take a well-deserved, first-class vacation to

Montego Bay, Jamaica Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, h ...

. As she soaks in the beauty of the island, she encounters a handsome young islander, Winston Shakespeare, who is twenty years her junior. His pursuit of her turns into a blossoming 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 her responsibilities as a mother and corporate executive.

Cast

as Stella Payne *

as Winston Shakespeare *

as Delilah Abraham *

as Vanessa *

Suzzanne Douglas Suzzanne Douglas (April 12, 1957 – July 6, 2021) was an American actress. She was best known for her role as matriarch Geraldine "Jerri" Peterson on The WB sitcom ''The Parent 'Hood'', starring Robert Townsend, which originally ran from 1995 ...

as Angela * Michael J. Pagan as Quincy Payne *

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

as Chantel * Richard Lawson as Jack *

Barry Shabaka Henley Barry Shabaka Henley (born Barry Joseph Henley; September 15, 1954) is an American character actor. Henley has appeared as a regular in a number of television series, has numerous film credits, and is a fixture in films by director Michael Mann, ...

as Buddy *

Lee Weaver Lee Weaver (born April 10, 1930) is an American film and television actor. Early life Weaver was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the son of Josephine and Primus Jest Weaver, a chef. Weaver was the voice of Alpine in the animated television ...

as Nate *

Glynn Turman Glynn Russell Turman (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. Turman is known for his roles as Lew Miles on the prime-time soap opera '' Peyton Place'' (1968–1969), high school student Leroy "Preach" Jackson ...

as Dr. Shakespeare * Phyllis Yvonne Stickney as Mrs. Shakespeare * Denise Hunt as Ms. Thang * James Pickens, Jr. as Walter Payne *

Carl Lumbly Carl Winston Lumbly (born August 14, 1951) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Dick Hallorann in '' Doctor Sleep'', NYPD detective Marcus Petrie on the CBS police drama ''Cagney & Lacey'', CIA agent Marcus Dixon on the ABC espiona ...

as Judge Spencer Boyle *

Victor Garber Victor Joseph Garber (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian-American actor and singer. Known for his work in film, television, and theatre, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also ...

(''uncredited'') as Isaac

Reception

The reception from critics was mixed. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Angela Bassett gracefully breezes through a hot summer fling without much conflict or ado, leaving us wondering when -- or if -- she's ever getting that groove back." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 56 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade A−.

Box office

In its opening weekend, ''Stella'' grossed $11,318,919, ranking #2 in the domestic box office behind ''

Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depictio ...

''s fourth weekend. The film would go on to gross $36,672,941 domestically and an additional $1,605,781 overseas for a worldwide total of $39,278,722, from an estimated $20 million budget.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack containing mostly R&B and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

was released on August 11, 1998, by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

. It peaked at number eight on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number three on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart, and was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

on September 22, 1998.

Accolades

; 1999 Acapulco Black Film Festival * Best Actress – Angela Bassett (won) * Best Actor – Taye Diggs (nominated) * Best Actress – Whoopi Goldberg (won) * Best Director – Kevin Rodney Sullivan (nominated) * Best Film (won) * Best Screenplay – Terry McMillan (nominated) * Best Soundtrack (won) ; 1999 NAACP Image Awards * Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture – Angela Bassett (won) * Outstanding Motion Picture (won) * Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – Whoopi Goldberg (won) * Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress – Michael J. Pagan (won)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:How Stella Got Her Groove Back 1998 films 1998 comedy-drama films 1998 directorial debut films 1998 romantic comedy films 1998 romantic drama films 1990s buddy comedy-drama films 1990s female buddy films 1990s romantic comedy-drama films 20th Century Fox films African-American comedy-drama films African-American romance films American buddy comedy-drama films American female buddy films American romantic comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films Films about vacationing Films based on American novels Films based on romance novels Films directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan Films scored by Michel Colombier Films set in Jamaica Films set in San Francisco Films shot in Jamaica Films shot in Los Angeles County, California Films shot in San Francisco Films with screenplays by Ronald Bass 1990s American films