Home :: DVD :: African American Cinema :: Drama  

Blaxploitation
Breakthrough Cinema
Comedy
Documentary
Drama

Series & Sequels
Soul Cinema
TV & Miniseries
How Stella Got Her Groove Back

How Stella Got Her Groove Back

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 .. 7 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "I thought this was a long movie, but it wasn't that bad"!!!
Review: I think it was a pretty good movie however, it was long though. I also happen to like Angela Bassett, and Taye Diggs is hot, but they didn't go very well together in this movie. I always felt like something was missing besides the fact that (Stella Bassett) was too old for Winston (Diggs), and I felt their relationship with never work with a 20 year age difference between the two. I have seen movies that were way worse than this one though. I remember one point in the movie were it got kinda drawn out and dull, but as a whole it was pretty O.K.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What Groove?
Review: Maybe this movie should have started where it ended. A single mother, successful career woman takes a vacation in Jamaica with her best friend. Has a fling with a younger man, comes back to New York to loose her job, her best friend dies, her fling comes to NY, and her family is set against their relationship. And somehow she's getting her "groove" back.

Where's the up swing in this movie? So, I tried to overlook that crucial flaw, I really tried to like this movie, but to no avail.

Taye Diggs as a 20 yr. old was unbelievably stiff and contained. Where is his zest for life, the energy and vivacity of a 20 yr. old falling in love for the first time. His performance was dull and uninspiring. The same goes for the chemistry between him and Angela Bassett.

Too many holes, too many flaws to point out, but it would mean reliving those forgettable scenes. This movie is like a plane that had it's nose up. It revved up its engine, but it just never took off.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The book was better
Review: This movie has a promising start, but falters midway through. Where the book was entertaining and fun, the movie changes the story to insert dramatic subplots that did not exist in the book and make it more of a downer. Also, the picture on the cover promises much more Jamaica than is delivered - the movie does not focus on Jamaica as much as the book did, which minimizes its escapist potential. The casting is excellent and the acting good, and there are many funny parts, but on the whole the movie is simply average. Wait for it to come on TV, but don't spend your money on it. Buy the book instead and take it to the beach.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Taye Diggs is superb
Review: This flim is being highly recommended

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Make me want to go to Jamaica
Review: I loved this movie. Taye Diggs is sexy and Angela Bassett is a strong black woman in my book. She takes on roles of women that aren't stereotypical and demeaning. The roles she has played in Hollywood are emotional and take charge. We need more African-American actresses like her.

Watching this movie made me want to plan a trip to Jamaica. Lush green trees, sandy beaches, and wild parties at the resorts. I did get the chance to go to Jamaica but it was nothing like Stella's trip. I could continue but will leave it at that.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: VERY ENTERTAINING; BOTH FUNNY AND TOUCHING
Review: I was just flipping channels when I happened to run across this movie. I didn't even know what I was watching, but the engaging dialogue held my interest, so I just kept on watching - and I'm glad I did! I really enjoyed this movie about a gorgeous forty year old woman taking up with a friendly, charasmatic guy half her age. Will the relationship last beyond the initial thrill of romace in sunny, exotic Jamaica? Will it work in "real life" - after the vacation is over? These may be somewhat cliched questions, but the clever (and amazingly funny!) writing and excellent acting (with a little help from Whoopie Goldberg as the warm and humorous "best friend") make the whole film a delight to watch! My opinion, ladies? Your husband may not be thrilled, but this is a great flick to watch either alone, or with your girlfriends!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An entertaining romantic comedy/drama.
Review: Angela Bassett in a winning performance since What`s Love Got Do With It. Bassett plays Stella a hard high class working woman in the city and forget something in her heart, how to really live. Her friend Delilah(Whoopi Goldberg in a fine performance) ask Stella to come with in Jamica to new start in life. Stella did change her sense of living meeting a young man half her age, played by Taye Diggs(Go, House on Haunted Hill) in a standout performance. When she falls in love him but everybody telling Stella is wrong to fall in love with a man half her age.

DVD`s has a great flawless widescreen transer and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround is also great. An very good movie and worth buying to our collection. Grade:A-.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Take me to Jamaica!
Review: My trips to Jamaica are re-lived through this movie! Whenever I want to take relax and take a quick vacation, I pop this movie in the VCR and watch the sights of the beautiful country, listen to the adoring Jamaican speech, and listen to the wonderful Carribean crickets. This movie was filmed in Kingston and includes all the wonderful sights and sounds of a beautiful island.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Starring Angela Bassett
Review: Had this mediocre movie been cast with white actors, it would probably never have been made. Another advance in African-American filmmaking: earning the right to be commonplace. The characters, plot, dialogue are so unconvincing and unbelievable that, were it not for the stunning Angela Bassett, the film would have probably gone unnoticed. And Whoopi Goldberg wastes yet another part that a genuine actress could have illuminated.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A chick movie, but a pretty good one
Review: There are movies that tend to cater to one gender over another and are the source of constant coercion, arguing and surrenders for couples. On one side you got guns, explosions, macho lines delivered over the sound of guns and explosions, and on the other hand you get a bunch of women sitting around talking about their feelings and using men as existentialist means to finding themselves.

This movie is of the latter case and in that category it's not a bad movie. Angela Basset goes to Jamaica, picks up a young guy (at least 20 years younger than her) and then spends the rest of the movie alternately enjoying her conquest and being embarrassed by the whole cradle robbing thing.

What's nice about this movie and what distinguishes a good chick movie from a lousy chick movie (or a good movie from a bad movie most of the time) is that there is a real honesty. Angela Bassett's crisis comes from being ambivalent and she plays both roles rather well. Everyone else is looking at her congratulating her on her being able to pick up such a young guy but she knows that they are laughing about the age difference as well. This entire movie is Bassett getting over her reservations about wanting this particular guy and it is nice to see the whole old-young couple gender role reversal.

The rest of the characters are pretty secondary. Whoopie Goldberg is Whoopie Goldberg but she's used well. Taye Diggs is fairly dull as a character. He's almost there exclusively to be understanding. He doesn't have any ambivalence, but since it's not his story, I don't think he's allowed to have any ambivalence. He still comes off as a sympathetic character with a good heart, so he's NOT just a young bimbo for Bassett to pick up - although I think there should be some of that thinking going on in the audience.

Overall, a good movie mostly for Angela Bassett's performance.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 .. 7 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates