SWEET HOME ALABAMA (2002) / ** 1/2
Directed by Andy Tennant. Screenplay by C Jay Cox, based on a story by Douglas J Eboch. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey. Running time: 102 minutes. Rated PG for mild language by the MFCB. Reviewed on September 28th, 2002.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
Synopsis: Melanie Carmichael (Witherspoon) has found success in New York: she is a rising star in the fashion world and is dating Andrew Hennings (Dempsey), son of NYC's acerbic mayor (Candice Bergen). But when Andrew proposes to Melanie, she is forced to return to her tiny Alabama hometown -- where her husband and high-school sweetheart, Jake (Lucas), still resides. As Melanie tries to secure a divorce, she starts to rediscover a part of herself she had left behind.
Review: I liked "Sweet Home Alabama". It made me laugh. It was warm without being overly melodramatic. All three leads gave charismatic performances which fit their roles to a tee. Witherspoon in particular continues to demonstrate that she is one of the most vibrant, charming actresses of this generation: the screen loves her, and so does the audience. So let me leave you in no doubt: if I was Roger Ebert, my response to this movie would be a thumb extended vertically upward. But -- and you knew there was a "but" coming -- in other ways "Alabama" is disappointing. To describe it as formulaic would be an insult to formulae. Witherspoon's breakthrough hit, "Legally Blonde", may not have had the most wildly original story but it boasted plenty of smart, creative humour and a strong protagonist. "Alabama", on the other hand, is stereotyped in almost every way possible. The jokes, the character arcs, the denouement: everything feels concocted from a recipe, and the movie suffers for that. Humour is, ultimately, the art of portraying the unexpected, and when the comedy seems lifted from a dozen other films, the viewer inevitably feels cheated. It's too bad that, in the wake of her newfound bankability, Witherspoon has chosen not to strive for even more original ventures, but has instead retreated into familiar Hollywood cliche.
Copyright © 2002 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html
========== X-RAMR-ID: 32948 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 788431 X-RT-TitleID: 1116087 X-RT-SourceID: 886 X-RT-AuthorID: 1699 X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews