I Rewatched How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Wow. Camp.

The last time I watched Angela Bassett as Stella in How Stella Got Her Groove Back was somewhere around the film’s release in 1998. I was about 12 years old and was obviously more focused on the movie’s outfits than anything else, but now that I’m closer to Stella’s age in the movie ::cough cough:: the big four-oh ::cough cough:: How Stella Got Her Groove Back seems entirely different.

“Winston Shakespeare…” Really?

The name alone seems right out of the J.K. Rowling playbook. I appreciate that his character was educated, though a little unmotivated, but it seems like he latched on to Stella, encouraging her to pursue her dreams without any real direction on his own. Red flag.

Everything Winston-related was cliche from his mandals to his silver jewelry, would-be-sexy fruit-eating, and flirting style. Did he even have friends? He seemed a little too eager to follow Stella to San Francisco, just to complain about being treated like a little boy? Little puppy is more like it.

When the relationship got rocky, the silliness really took off.

Stella, a successful woman in finance, and Winston, a twenty-year-old sort-of student not aligning on gender roles and lifestyle? Wow, shocker. He leaves his clothes everywhere and spends too much time playing video games? Wooow, really? How could someone as smart as Stella not see those issues coming a mile away? See? Camp.

I highly suggest a rewatch with a cocktail or mocktail because the non-chemistry is really a tickler. The most important part of the movie is this specific outfit Stella wears to the pajama-jam. What in the perfection?