A romantic comedy is the closest thing to an oxymoron in Hollywood today. In basically every one that I have seen, the movie is neither romantic nor remotely funny. To blame? I dunno, scripts, actors, the popcorn, who knows! That is why I traipsed into the theater with some trepidation for `Sweet Home Alabama' (which ranks as one of the greatest SONGS ever made). But what was I to do? Nothing much else was out, so I settled down with my popcorn for what appeared to be a tossup to the movie gods.
In the jungle that is New York City, expatriate Southerner Melanie Carmichael (Reese Witherspoon), has reached the pinnacle of the fashion world with magazines raving about her debut line of clothes (random question-who actually buys the clothes from the runway? I asked this question while reviewing `Zoolander' and haven't gotten an answer).
Anyways, along with career success, she is engaged to Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey), son of the New York Mayor Kate Hennings (Candice Bergen), who is `destined' to be the next JFK. Of course, the fairy tale has one flaw (they all do)-Melanie is still married to a man she left behind in Alabama.
To rectify this, Melanie returns home to face her past that she's been running from for the past seven years (not exactly an earth-shattering plot premise), personified in her hoped-to-be ex-husband, Jake Perry (Josh Lewis), a beer-swigging redneck-type of character. Along for the ride are her distant parents, Pearl (Mary Kay Place) and Wayne (Fred Ward) Smooter (the disparity of last names comes from Melanie's attempts to run from her past. In the end, it comes down a choice between her two lives-urbane vs. casual.
I was mildly surprised with `Sweet Home Alabama' because it did have a few standout performances and highlights. For one, you cannot argue against Reese Witherspoon's performance. The best analogy that I can think of is that she is the caffeine to the movie's cappuccino-a burst of energy that makes it worth watching. She puts the `Sweet' into the title and is just an enjoyable presence on the screen.
I also can't argue with the slew of Southern characters that are unique and completely realistic, while being funny and slightly eccentric. Topping the list is the performance turned in by Josh Lucas. He has a classic character to play up as both larger than life while being slightly helpless on his own. He does it well, creating a slightly paradoxical `sensitive redneck.'
While the Alabamans are charming, the New Yorkers are brash, loud and overblown. It's hard to like any of them, which really takes a bit of suspense and cliff-hanger aspect of the ultimate showdown between sides of Melanie out of the picture. Topping the list of annoying performances is Candice Bergen's. She is a really nasty lady, accentuated by, maybe this is just me, but it seems like Candice Bergen is becoming a man. She sounds and even acts a bit mannishly as she takes on her domineering big-city politician.
As I hinted at in my opener, romantic comedies are completely predictable and `Sweet Home Alabama' fails to disappoint on this point. I could have told you from the opening sequence where this film would have ended up, and it follows the romantic comedy formula exactly, except with the one small deviation in actually being quite humorous at times.
So was `Sweet Home Alabama' enough to cause the dead members of Lynyrd Skynyrd to turn in their graves at the desecration of one of the greatest rock songs ever written? I don't think so, but then again, the movie also doesn't do much for me on any level. Still, it was a valiant effort and it was funny at times, so I think that a 7 out of 10 would be appropriate in this case.
In the jungle that is New York City, expatriate Southerner Melanie Carmichael (Reese Witherspoon), has reached the pinnacle of the fashion world with magazines raving about her debut line of clothes (random question-who actually buys the clothes from the runway? I asked this question while reviewing `Zoolander' and haven't gotten an answer).
Anyways, along with career success, she is engaged to Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey), son of the New York Mayor Kate Hennings (Candice Bergen), who is `destined' to be the next JFK. Of course, the fairy tale has one flaw (they all do)-Melanie is still married to a man she left behind in Alabama.
To rectify this, Melanie returns home to face her past that she's been running from for the past seven years (not exactly an earth-shattering plot premise), personified in her hoped-to-be ex-husband, Jake Perry (Josh Lewis), a beer-swigging redneck-type of character. Along for the ride are her distant parents, Pearl (Mary Kay Place) and Wayne (Fred Ward) Smooter (the disparity of last names comes from Melanie's attempts to run from her past. In the end, it comes down a choice between her two lives-urbane vs. casual.
I was mildly surprised with `Sweet Home Alabama' because it did have a few standout performances and highlights. For one, you cannot argue against Reese Witherspoon's performance. The best analogy that I can think of is that she is the caffeine to the movie's cappuccino-a burst of energy that makes it worth watching. She puts the `Sweet' into the title and is just an enjoyable presence on the screen.
I also can't argue with the slew of Southern characters that are unique and completely realistic, while being funny and slightly eccentric. Topping the list is the performance turned in by Josh Lucas. He has a classic character to play up as both larger than life while being slightly helpless on his own. He does it well, creating a slightly paradoxical `sensitive redneck.'
While the Alabamans are charming, the New Yorkers are brash, loud and overblown. It's hard to like any of them, which really takes a bit of suspense and cliff-hanger aspect of the ultimate showdown between sides of Melanie out of the picture. Topping the list of annoying performances is Candice Bergen's. She is a really nasty lady, accentuated by, maybe this is just me, but it seems like Candice Bergen is becoming a man. She sounds and even acts a bit mannishly as she takes on her domineering big-city politician.
As I hinted at in my opener, romantic comedies are completely predictable and `Sweet Home Alabama' fails to disappoint on this point. I could have told you from the opening sequence where this film would have ended up, and it follows the romantic comedy formula exactly, except with the one small deviation in actually being quite humorous at times.
So was `Sweet Home Alabama' enough to cause the dead members of Lynyrd Skynyrd to turn in their graves at the desecration of one of the greatest rock songs ever written? I don't think so, but then again, the movie also doesn't do much for me on any level. Still, it was a valiant effort and it was funny at times, so I think that a 7 out of 10 would be appropriate in this case.