Sweet Home Alabama

Rating:
Summary: Escapist film about going back to your roots.
Review: The delightful Reese Witherspoon carries "Sweet Home Alabama" on her capable shoulders. The director of the film, Andy Tennant, makes the wise decision to put his leading lady in nearly every scene. Witherspoon plays New Yorker Melanie Carmichael, a girl with a past. She is a rising star as a fashion designer and she is engaged to the gorgeous Andrew Hennings, the mayor's son.

The problem is that Melanie hails from from Pigeon Creek, Alabama, a town that has not changed much in years, and her past is not pretty. Since she is ashamed of her roots, Melanie has invented a more palatable story about her upbringing, pretending that she grew up as an upper class young lady in a mansion. Will she be able to keep her secrets hidden long enough to marry Andrew? Or will the easygoing charm of Pigeon Creek lure her away from the excitement and challenges of life in New York City?

If you do not know the answers to these questions, then you are not paying attention. The entire plot of this movie is telegraphed after the first fifteen minutes. Since we know where the movie is headed, what makes it watchable? The answer is the cast. Witherspoon is cute, charming and spunky. Both Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey are adorable as the two men who love Melanie. Good supporting work is provided by Candice Bergen who is typecast as the overbearing and snooty mayor and Fred Ward and Mary Kay Place as Melanie's loving but confused parents.

If you want a movie with surprises, twists and turns, this is not the film for you. If you want to kick back and watch an old fashioned, easy-to-take romantic comedy with a perfectly cast leading lady, you could do worse than "Sweet Home Alabama."

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites!
Review: This movie has become probably one of my favorites of all times. Yes, its predictable...But all you "movie critics" are getting WAY too serious...Most chick flicks ARE predictable. After all, we all knew the ship was gonna sink in Titanic and that in My Big Fat Greek Wedding Toula was going to become this beautiful young women and live happily ever after. But who cares? This movie is sweet and funny..And I don't think it pokes fun at Southerns or New Yorkers..And for those who think it does, lighten up! It's just a movie. My dad's side of the family is from Alabama, and some of the characters reminded me of my relatives down in Alabama. If you're looking for a great heart warming care free movie this is it =)

Rating:
Summary: I feel sorry for the two guys
Review: Reese Witherspoons character is so unsympathetic and such a user that I walked away from watching this 'comedy' with kind of a sick feeling. The poor fools who are obsessed with her are handsome successful guys who could find a decent woman in a minute, but they only have eyes for the golddigging silly Reese character who treats everybody like dirt. The only thing that saves the movie is the soundtrack.

Rating:
Summary: Very cool and funny comedy!!
Review: A sweet, well made commedy that provides plenty of laughs and it masks the usual love story cliches well enough to make it interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Rather......boring.......
Review: I thought that Sweet Home Alabama was cute in the beggining... but all

down

hill

from

there

The movie just drags on and on and I had some trouble staying awake. Definitly not one of my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: Slapstick ending ruins it
Review: OK, there were not a lot of high expectations for this one. Hollywood has found a winner in Reese Witherspoon, and they need to get her out to the ticket-buying public. So we're probably going to see a lot of light comedies, and if they just don't blow it too much, I'm all for some pleasant, if mindless entertainment.

I'm sorry to say that if you see the trailer, you've seen just about all there is to see. You have Alabama-girl Reese making it big in New York City, and needing to go back home to secure a divorce so she can marry the son of the mayor of New York. You see the look on her face as she has to observe what she used to be. We get the predictable clash of cultures. And we get to breathlessly see who she's going to choose.

There are some nice touches in the film that almost hooked me. For one, her new fiancé is not portrayed as the one-dimensional jerk you'd expect. In fact, you wonder sometimes why there is even an issue on which one to choose. Another very good scene happens when "Felony Melanie" gets blasted in a bar, and says a lot of revealing things in her drunkenness. This part of the film actually makes some of the characters more interesting, and I thought it might pull it out at that point.

But no, we have an ending that dumps all that. While Candice Bergman doesn't do too badly as the mayor of New York, both her and Reese's reactions when the final decision is made sink the move almost to the level of "Smokey and the Bandit". With a little more writing, and a little more care, this one could have risen to the heights of at least, well, "Legally Blonde". It doesn't.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, Reese does it again!
Review: This is one of the best Reese Witherspoon movies I've seen. She plays a NYC fashion designer engaged to the son of the NYC mayor. But unknown to them she has a secret past life back home in Alabama, so she returns home to settle things before her big day. Instead, she finds out that things in Alabama weren't as bad as they seemed when she left it and amazingly seem to 'fit too'.

Rating:
Summary: Solid Vehicle Picture with Cute Star in the Making
Review: This Vehicle film starring the plucky Reece Witherspoon was a big hit at the Box Office. The movie is standard operating procedure for the kind of project you'd want a cute girl with star potential to do. It in many ways reminded me of the Julia Robert comeback film My Best Friend's Wedding, because you love the star no matter her temperament. I don't need to go into the plot other than to say that Reece has to choose between her estranged redneck husband and the JFK jr. clone that just proposed to her. There are some good jokes about how Candace Bergen, a Democrat, really doesn't like the poor people who help her win elections. And Reece's father Fred Ward participates in the best send-up of Civil War reenactment that you will find on the screen. Otherwise the movie is what you expect, a cute vehicle for Reece to win your hearts and his.

The DVD has a bunch of deleted scenes, which mostly revolve around a character that was cut from the film. It also has a commentary by the director that was thoughtful and interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Buy It!
Review: It is a great movie! I really enjoyed it. At one point (at the wedding scene), I laughed so hard I had to hit pause for fear of missing too much of the movie. Buy it, you'll like it, I know it! It has a good plot with drama, romance and comedy, none of it is cheesy or out of place. I recommend it highly!

Rating:
Summary: movie watcher
Review: i really enjoyed this movie. its a feel good movie. i laughed and cried. its not just a chick flick. my husband also liked this movie. well worth your money. it will make you smile.