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Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama

List Price: $19.99
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This is a CUTE movie!!
Review: Reese Witherspoon shines in this movie. She plays a sophiscated character and smarter than her role in Legally Blonde (not that I didnt LOVE it) Reese Witherspoon plays a high-profile fashion design from New York, although she's really just a southern girl who got married right out of high school. After she decides she's tying the knot with the son of the governor of New York, she has to go settle some unsettled business; her marriage with Jake, her highschool sweetheart from the south. While there, she finds her true feelings for Jake and finds that her beau back in NY is not the one for her. Completely cute movie! A MUST-SEE! I've seen it 3 times and enjoyed every one!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Complete Waste of My Time
Review: If I could have rated this in the negative numbers, I would have. This movie was awful. What the worst part of it was I thought Reese was trying to tell everyone how good the South really was. That didn't help it. I also recently found out that they either didn't spend any or just very little time in Alabama. I knew it was fake when I didn't see a diverse crowd at the fair.

Also, if you are bored enough to watch the deleted scenes. Even the director noted that the two best scenes, one was the best scene and the other was the funniest, but he cut them anyway. How is that going to make a movie? I don't even know if what they used for previews was in there, it was probably cut. Do not suffer through this!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Yeeha
Review: As other reviews said, this movie is rather inoffensive. Yes, the story line is predictable, & that true love never dies. The movie is built upon the Kennedy-ish premises, where Reese Witherspoon's character came from a shoddy background, hit the big time in the Big Apple as a fashion designer, met her Prince Charming in the guise of Patrick Dempsey (a clone version of late Kennedy Junior). Before Reese's character was able to marry Patrick's character officially, she needed to divorce from her husband in Alabama. Thus, she needed to go back to confront her past that she was so ashamed about. After spending time there, she realised the things that mattered to her heart, her root. Well, you can pretty much guess the rest of the storyline. However, what made this DVD collection interesting is the subplot which is eliminated completely. As the Director, Andy Tennant said himself, there are some deleted scenes which are his favourite. So as not to confuse the viewers or so as not to have the main idea diluted too much, the subplot about this "Erin" character is eliminated completely. I would rather have the Erin subplot in the whole movie to make it "grayer", or projecting a more real life situation. However, it's not meant to be. There's also a music video of the theme song. I find the movie enjoyable to watch. For those that expect something challenging, forget it. This is one of those few good movies that you can slouch in your couch & having a good laugh & good cry in. Highly recommended. Perfect cast & wonderful direction.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: not as good as expected
Review: first of all, reese witherspoon is a great actress, and i liked her performance in this movie. but that was probably the only thing i really liked. surprisingly enough, i was more sympathetic to the tough, aggressive, even-if-somewhat-rude reese in the beginning than i was to her sapped-down character at the end. i found the whole southern small-town charm storyline to be unoriginal and overused. during most of the duration of the movie, i kept hoping that reese would find her way back to new york. the idea of a successful, independent, beautiful young woman giving up everything for a guy was just horrific to me. and sadly enough, i couldn't even be impressed with josh lucas's performance because of that.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Above average Hollywood love story
Review: Romantic comedy with thin plot but charming characters saved mainly by good acting. Don't feel too bad about wasting 1.5 hours on this. It does what it should. It serves as a fluffy entertainment. Southern cliches are way overdone (again, except for Reese Witherspoon who really manages to raise above the material).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: GOOD 'OL AMERICANA
Review: In Brief

High-flying New York based fashion designer Melanie, played by Reese Witherspoon, returns home to confront her past. A Southern Belle at heart, she seeks out her redneck husband Jake, a high school sweetheart played by Josh Lucas, so she may divorce him and marry the mayor of NY City's son. As she rediscovers her past, she rediscovers herself, learning you can take the girl out of the South, but you can never take the South out of the girl.

The Review

Home is where the heart is and Sweet Home Alabama is definitely all heart. Yes this is generic mush - but it is good mush, and besides we all need to get in touch with our feelings occasionally. Ok I'm not cracking up and yes that really was a speck of dust I had in my eye when I was watching the film - honest!

So what makes this romantic comedy stand out above the rest: well for starters it's a well written story about finding ones true love, and no matter how hard the world has made us, at heart we all share that common desire. Reese Witherspoon plays her role with beautiful eclecticism mixing her home-grown roots and New York adopted attitude in an explosion of sass. Her clashes with Lucas provide both some quality comic moments and genuine tenderness. Lucas is the real man of every girl's dreams; with his Nicholas Cage sly smile, he exudes a gruff masculinity that is just waiting to be cared for by his perfect match.

Now I'll stop there before I make myself puke, or have to over compensate, reinforcing my status as a man by watching video nasties and drinking beer. Ok, all jokes aside, Andy Tennant who previously brought us Anna & the King, has done well in making what is a competent but highly unoriginal piece of movie making. This is generic fair at its best and that's what has limited it to just a three star rating as it has become a victim of its own conventions. The tag line to the film tells us "sometimes what you're looking for is right where you left it" and while that sums up the narrative, its also relevant to how I feel about this film - There's something nice about the familiar, we know where this one is going and if your happy to let it take you for a cruise controlled drive there's no reason you shouldn't enjoy Sweet Home Alabama.

The Verdict

If you love romantic comedies then go and see it, its as strong as Sleepless in Seattle or You've Got Mail but this isn't As Good as it Gets.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: annoying from a legal standpoint
Review: The movie was cute, but from a legal standpoint, it was irritating.

First of all, how did Melanie get a marriage license to get remarried if her divorce papers (and decree) were never filed? Particularly considering the fact that she her second wedding was in the same town as her first. Even if she signed the papers, they still need to be filed and a decree entered by a Judge.

Maybe I'm reading way too much into this (it is only a movie).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: ~Great actors-though storyline was predictable~
Review: With a cast like this the movie was very entertaining. Although this movie is a funny and entertaining film, it did have some drawbacks. The rudeness of Melanie almost makes the character dislikable at times. Despite this, you can see the caring she still has in her heart so that's what saved this character. Reese Witherspoon is a fantastic actress and can deal with so many different roles and I think no one else could have filled her shoes for this film.
I LOVED the character of Jake! I think he really helped keep the movie in check when Melanie was being a little "self-centered".
All in all I think this movie is enjoyable. The characters are amazing! Such a broad view of personalities!
The DVD extras are not bad. The deleted scenes are ok but they took out a whole character in the final cut. Also for the alternate ending I have no clue what the writers were thinking. Thank goodness they took it out! If you have not seen the DVD version I highly reccommend to watch it.
This movie was very entertaining and I think it's worth a shot to try out if you haven't already. Although this love story is predictable, it's worth the while! :-)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A worthwhile rental if you can't find anything else to get
Review: This is an ok movie, but could have been so much better! Even the mega talented cast couldn't save the storyline.

#1) The movie starts off with a love scene between two 10 year olds (yuck)...sorry but I would have much rather seen something to make the love between "Jake" and "Melanie" credible (a high school scene maybe? Maybe a scene about what happened when she left town? What was the "old Melanie" really like?). Throughout the movie, they just seem like awkward strangers who get on each other's nerves.

#2) Too many Southern-redneck cliches. Double-wides?? Pickling?? Civil War re-enactments?? Give me a break!

#3) A gay "good ol' boy"? Are you kidding me? I liked his character but could have done without the whole gay thing. This was too much of an effort to make a movie "with something for everyone".

Like I said it's on ok rental but that's about it. It was great to see Patrick Dempsey on the big screen again, especially to see him playing something other than a teen nerd! Josh Lucas is gorgeous and he and the lovely Reese Witherspoon had good chemistry, if only their "love story" had been developed a little more. Candice Bergin was so good at playing a ruthless politician/mother! Sorry but that's where the compliments end.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Offensive to Southerners, Northerners and Humans in General
Review: I have come to believe that the enjoyment one derives from watching a motion picture is often directly linked to the setting in which they view it. A movie of considerable charm can appear overblown and banal when observed in an uncomfortable location, while a less inspired film may gain an added charm or flavor when examined in a more favorable setting. On the evening I went to see Sweet Home Alabama at Loews Cineplex in Glen Cove, I was forced to contend with a dilapidated, dirty screening area, the incessant ringing of cellular phones, and an insufferable audience of rowdy middle school students and talkative old ladies. Perhaps under different circumstances, I might have found more to enjoy in this romantic comedy about second chances and competing values. However, from my narrow seat, the film seamed to be a mirror of the current environment: unpleasant, insulting and ultimately revolting to those who value decorum and good taste.

The movie stars the charming and beautiful Reese Witherspoon as Melanie Carmichael, a sophisticated New York City designer who appears to have it all: a successful career, a politically correct assortment of friends, and a marriage proposal from the mayor's son (Patrick Dempsey). Unfortunately, before she can tie the knot with Mr. Right, she must journey to Alabama to divorce the redneck husband (Josh Lucas) she abandoned seven years earlier. As Melanie becomes re-acquainted with her old home town, fate (and a terminally unfunny screenplay by C. Jay Cox) leads her through a series of painfully contrived vignettes that illustrate the simple pleasures of country life and the boisterous charm of Alabama's populace. By the time our heroine is called upon to decide which lifestyle she wishes to lead, director Andy Tennant has managed to insult American citizens on both sides of the Mason Dixon Line, introduce a supporting cast of the most stereotyped southerners this side of a Dukes of Hazzard rerun, and waste the considerable comedic and dramatic talents of Witherspoon (who should have had the good sense to avoid this travesty in the first place).

In the film's defense, Candice Bergen made me laugh roughly three times as New York's elitist mayor, and the repeated renditions of the title song were quite pleasant.


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