HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK / (1998) *1/2
Starring: Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs, Whoopi Goldberg, Regina King, and Michael J. Pagan Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. Written by Terry McMillan. Running Time: 124 minutes. Rated R (for sexuality, language, and some nudity)
By Blake French:
"How Stella Got Her Groove Back" is a beautiful looking, gorgeously sited, visually lush romantic drama in which the tension concerns not race, wealth, or parents, but the original aspect of age. Unfortunately, while the film may contain attractive individuals and locations, beneath its shallow surface lays a grievous, desperate look into an empty abyss of nothingness. The film is filled with so many bare boned ideas, idiotic situations, and blunt, under developed characters it is a shame I can compliment this movie for what it does include.
"How Stella Got Her Groove Back" details the busy life of an African American business woman named Stella Payne. She lives in the midst of hustle and bustle in a large city with her preteen son, Quincy. The story begins as a fresh feeling, developed character study. We learn many crucial concepts about the title character, Stella. She is a corporately stressed out, independently inconstant, but stable woman, with much pride but little time.
It is only a matter of time before the script shows us its true colors. Stella, stressed out and tired mentally and physically, views a commercial on TV about a Jamaican vacation. She immediately gives her best friend, Delilah, a call and invites her to travel to this tropical island with her for a much needed restful holiday. After this point, the movie only gets more and more obvious. You see, if the external conflict in the story is the business of Stella, and it is solved within twenty minutes into the film, where are we to go from here?
The writers have no other choice other than to create an internal problem within the secluded happenings. Stella meets a young, sexy, muscular gentleman named Winston Shakespeare, a local resident at the selected Island village. This is where the film begins a self destructive journey into the world of naked subtext, where characters are determined to explain important plot nuggets through dialogue instead of actions. However, "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" uses this concept with an apparent, unsharpened appearance instead of giving its chemistry-rich characters colorful conversations to gnaw opon.
I did not buy the relationship between Winston and Stella for anything but physical lust. Winston is twenty, and Stella is forty, so obviously we can understand why she is all for the man after a seductive, one night stand between the two. But what is in it for him? Stella is an attractive woman, but she is old enough to be Winston's mother. Even Stella is confused with his intentions throughout the picture. We know of the conflicts here, but don't really understand them.
Delilah is used as a plot device here, when she (spoiler) grows ill and dies at midpoint to place more emotional distress on Stella. But what this event is truly doing is acting as a distraction from the true moral of the story. Although her character provides witty charm and engaging humor, for the most part, the film's characters and actors are either over achieved or arrogant. Taye Diggs may have an attractive body, but his character is more humble than self conscious, and the film mistakenly uses him as a sex symbol.
As "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" concludes in its formalistic fashion, I was thinking to myself about how some audiences would actually enjoy the story if they merely skimmed across the movie's surface. However, for those who behold a mind that enjoys depth, they could dig deep into the likes of Stella--only to discover there is none.
Brought to you by Twentieth Century Fox Productions.
Starring: Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs, Whoopi Goldberg, Regina King, and Michael J. Pagan Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. Written by Terry McMillan. Running Time: 124 minutes. Rated R (for sexuality, language, and some nudity)
By Blake French:
"How Stella Got Her Groove Back" is a beautiful looking, gorgeously sited, visually lush romantic drama in which the tension concerns not race, wealth, or parents, but the original aspect of age. Unfortunately, while the film may contain attractive individuals and locations, beneath its shallow surface lays a grievous, desperate look into an empty abyss of nothingness. The film is filled with so many bare boned ideas, idiotic situations, and blunt, under developed characters it is a shame I can compliment this movie for what it does include.
"How Stella Got Her Groove Back" details the busy life of an African American business woman named Stella Payne. She lives in the midst of hustle and bustle in a large city with her preteen son, Quincy. The story begins as a fresh feeling, developed character study. We learn many crucial concepts about the title character, Stella. She is a corporately stressed out, independently inconstant, but stable woman, with much pride but little time.
It is only a matter of time before the script shows us its true colors. Stella, stressed out and tired mentally and physically, views a commercial on TV about a Jamaican vacation. She immediately gives her best friend, Delilah, a call and invites her to travel to this tropical island with her for a much needed restful holiday. After this point, the movie only gets more and more obvious. You see, if the external conflict in the story is the business of Stella, and it is solved within twenty minutes into the film, where are we to go from here?
The writers have no other choice other than to create an internal problem within the secluded happenings. Stella meets a young, sexy, muscular gentleman named Winston Shakespeare, a local resident at the selected Island village. This is where the film begins a self destructive journey into the world of naked subtext, where characters are determined to explain important plot nuggets through dialogue instead of actions. However, "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" uses this concept with an apparent, unsharpened appearance instead of giving its chemistry-rich characters colorful conversations to gnaw opon.
I did not buy the relationship between Winston and Stella for anything but physical lust. Winston is twenty, and Stella is forty, so obviously we can understand why she is all for the man after a seductive, one night stand between the two. But what is in it for him? Stella is an attractive woman, but she is old enough to be Winston's mother. Even Stella is confused with his intentions throughout the picture. We know of the conflicts here, but don't really understand them.
Delilah is used as a plot device here, when she (spoiler) grows ill and dies at midpoint to place more emotional distress on Stella. But what this event is truly doing is acting as a distraction from the true moral of the story. Although her character provides witty charm and engaging humor, for the most part, the film's characters and actors are either over achieved or arrogant. Taye Diggs may have an attractive body, but his character is more humble than self conscious, and the film mistakenly uses him as a sex symbol.
As "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" concludes in its formalistic fashion, I was thinking to myself about how some audiences would actually enjoy the story if they merely skimmed across the movie's surface. However, for those who behold a mind that enjoys depth, they could dig deep into the likes of Stella--only to discover there is none.
Brought to you by Twentieth Century Fox Productions.