Sweet Home Alabama

2002

Action / Comedy / Romance

51
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 78% · 160 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 78% · 250K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 131585 131.6K

new york city marriage proposal alabama career woman fashion designer young love

Plot summary

New York fashion designer, Melanie Carmichael suddenly finds herself engaged to the city's most eligible bachelor. But her past holds many secrets—including Jake, the redneck husband she married in high school, who refuses to divorce her. Bound and determined to end their contentious relationship once and for all, Melanie sneaks back home to Alabama to confront her past.

Director

Andy Tennant Photo
Andy Tennant

Top cast

Dakota Fanning Photo
Dakota Fanning as Young Melanie
Bob Penny Photo
Bob Penny as Wallace Buford
Patrick Dempsey Photo
Patrick Dempsey as Andrew Hennings
Jean Smart Photo
Jean Smart as Stella Kay Perry
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
931.79 MB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 48 min
Seeds 25
1.75 GB
1920*816
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 48 min
Seeds 77

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by daddyfads 5 / 10

Reese Witherspoon as a smart, sassy blonde? Hard to believe, I know.

I cannot envision anyone but Reese Witherspoon as Melanie, a snooty-but-lovable up-and-coming New York City fashion designer from Alabama who receives a marriage proposal from the prominent, well-bred son of the mayor of New York. Of course, this means that she must go back to the small town where she was raised to demand a divorce from Jake (Josh Lucas) - seven years after walking out on him. Aside from being a love story, this film shows us that you cannot escape your past, no matter how hard you try. Everywhere she turns Reese's character is beset by the people and events of her youth. Old friends seem almost compelled to reminisce about their youthful escapades. She just cannot seem to get away from it. You really get a sense of how she must feel when you see her in the honky-tonk bar, surrounded by rednecks with no visible exit.Witherspoon is right at home in the role as a smart, sassy young woman ala 'Legally Blonde'. However the real star of the show is Josh Lucas. His expressive face lends an authenticity to Jake that transcends the stereotypical former football star and produces a charismatic, likable guy who just wants to win back his girl. But if it is stereotypes that you want, they are there to be found. Most prominent is the mother of Reese's fiancé, played by Candice Bergen. She is one tough politician who is as cold as ice and predictably obsessed with her public image. Others include the independent, feminist girlfriend, the redneck buddies and a gay fashion designer.Director Andy Tennant also likes to deal with some classic historical and societal conflicts in this movie, such as the North versus the South. In addition to numerous Yankee/redneck jokes, Witherspoon's dad (Fred Ward) is involved in the regular reenactment of a Civil War battle. Tennant also seems to be a fan of love's ability to prevail in the face of these conflicts. His film 'Ever After' has a similar theme – it deals with the struggle between nobility and commoner during medieval times. Specifically, it is about a Prince who falls in love with a peasant girl. Despite the odds, their love overcomes this obstacle. If you like romantic comedies, you should like this film. Despite its flaws this movie is upbeat, entertaining and it comes with a lesson about the futility of trying to escape your past that might prove invaluable to some audience members.
Reviewed by RJBose 5 / 10

Does Your Conscience Bother You? (Tell Me True)

"Sweet Home Alabama" conceived as a simple "star vehicle" for Reese Witherspoon is advertised as a "romantic comedy". It's is quite formulaic, and surely no one entering the theater (or renting the video or DVD)has any doubt as to with whom Reese's Melanie Charmichael (Smooter) will end up with when the closing credits start to roll.Herein lies the basic fault, however, with this interpretation of a tried and true plotline: by the end of the film it seems apparent that both of the two men in Melanie's life would be far better off without her. After accepting a proposal of marriage by the handsome and ambitious son of the May of New York City, Melanie proceeds back home to Alabama to finalize her divorce from her high school (and childhood) sweetheart, whom she abandoned seven years before, but has refused to sign the divorce papers. Upon returning to her modest roots (at variance with the more gentile upbringing she has led her New York friends and followers to believe) she insults her parents and old friends, becomes drunk (and mean) and vomits into her former husband's truck; let the hilarity ensue! In the meantime, in the part of the movie where the new fiancee is supposed to be revealed as boorish, vain and superficial, quite the opposite occurs, and the viewer is left with a very sympathetic view of the upperclass New York society man, who truly loves Melanie, and forgives her untruthfulness. Melanie's former husband, having set out to win Melanie back by making a success of himself in the intervening years discovers her to be the shallow superficial snob of the movie. Why then, would he want her back? Why did Melanie make up the story of a plantation upbringing anyway? She's just a conniving, lying, scheming, mean drunk.Where is the romance? Where is the comedy? Certainly not in Alabama.
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