How Stella Got Her Groove Back

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

With its swaying palms and breezy ocean vistas, as vicariously relaxing as anything on film, How Stella Got Her Groove Back starts like a study of rejuvenation, a restorative experience for both the title character and the viewer. But like the book on which it was based, Kevin Rodney Sullivan's film loses some impact when it retreats home to the United States and becomes a melodrama, tackling such diverse topics as disease, family, and May-December romance. To be sure, Angela Bassett and Whoopi ...more