Stella (1990 film)
The title character is an extrovert, flamboyant single mother living in Watertown, New York, who is determined to give her daughter, Jenny, all of the opportunities that she never had, ultimately makes a selfless sacrifice to ensure her happiness.After he proposes half-heartedly, she rejects him and embarks upon raising their child, Jenny, as a single mother but is always helped and encouraged by her stalwart friend, a local good natured barfly, Ed Munn (John Goodman).As Jenny (Trini Alvarado) grows up, she becomes torn between her father's rich and well-connected background and her loyalty and love for her mother who is poor and free spirited but devoted to her daughter.Directed by John Erman, freighted with a musical score of soaring banality, this 20-year saga of an uneducated, working-class single mother who sacrifices everything to give her daughter the chance she never had is so recklessly shameless it verges on camp parody."[2] In The Washington Post, critic Rita Kempley stated: "From bathhouse chanteuse to Lemon Joy diva, from self-proclaimed queen of camp, sass and tactlessness to goddess of suds, sap and pap -- yes, you have come a long way, Baby Divine."[4] A far more positive review came from critic Roger Ebert who wrote that "Stella is the kind of movie that works you over and leaves you feeling good, unless you absolutely steel yourself against it.