Sweet Home Alabama (film)

Sweet Home Alabama
Directed by	Andy Tennant
Written by	Douglas J. Eboch (story) C. Jay Cox (screenplay)
Produced by	David Brown Michael Tolkin
Starring	Reese Witherspoon Josh Lucas Patrick Dempsey Fred Ward Candice Bergen Melanie Lynskey Mary Kay Place
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release dates	September 27, 2002
Running time	approximately 109 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$38,000,000 (estimated)

This article is about the movie. For the song, see Sweet Home Alabama.

Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 romantic comedy directed by Andy Tennant and stars Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, and Patrick Dempsey. The film was released on September 27, 2002.

Plot

The story involves two childhood Alabama sweethearts who married but became estranged, Jake Perry (Josh Lucas) and Melanie Smooter (Reese Witherspoon), and Melanie's longtime boyfriend Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey).

Melanie is a successful fashion designer. When she becomes engaged to Andrew, the son of the mayor of New York City (Candice Bergen), Melanie announces that she has to go back home alone to Alabama to tell her parents in person. Her private reason is to demand a divorce from Jake. She has not told Andrew that she is still married.

Jake refuses to divorce her until she goes down to the bar and gets really drunk. She begins to spill everyone's secrets, the more important of them being Bobby Ray's homosexuality and her pregnancy with Jake that was the cause of their split, which Jake has yet to get over. Jake takes her out of the bar, and refusing to let her drive home in her current state, takes her keys off her, says goodnight to his 'hot date,' and drives her home. When she wakes up the next morning, the divorce papers are laying on her bed signed by Jake.

Melanie learns that Jake had once gone to New York City to try to find her, to say sorry and to tell her that he loved her. That night they go to a dance, on her way out she sees the sign saying "dog cemetery." She goes down to say an emotional goodbye and to apologize to Bear. Jake sees her heading in that direction and slowly makes his way there. Melanie is saying "...I bet you sat there wondering what you had done wrong" and to announce his presence, Jake says "I told him it was my fault." They proceed to sit down and talk about the baby they lost and have the conversation they should have had years ago had they wanted to stay together for the years in between. Jake gives a blessing for Melanie to have a good life with Andrew, but Melanie says she can't do it and they kiss. For a moment Jake goes along with it, but he appreciates that they aren't married anymore and he pushes her away and tells her to go home.

The next day, Andrew arrives in town, and goes to Melanie's childhood "home". Jake sees him at Bobby Ray's house and asks him who he's looking for. Andrew says Melanie Carmichael and Jake asks you mean Melanie Smooter? but no, he's looking for Melanie Carmichael. Bobby Ray looks at Andrew, checking him out, when Jake explains who he is. Bobby Ray plays along with the whole "Carmichael" thing and says that he's her cousin and that they are probably at the battlefield. Bobby then goes to explain who Jake is to Melanie, but Jake interrupts and says that he's her cousin too. To which Bobby tries to hide some laughter. along the way to the battlefield Andrew asks who Melanie Smooter is. Jake explains the whole blowing up the bank thing and Andrew asks what happened to her. "Oh, you know, wound up pregnant, married some loser right out of high school." When they arrive at the battlefield, Jake subtly tells Melanie off for living a lie and passing herself off for someone she's not. Her dad arrives on the scene and introduces himself as Melanie's father and Earl Smooter. Andrew realises that she is Melanie Smooter and she tells him that Jake is her husband. Andrew thinks that she married her cousin, and leaves, angry that she lied to him about who she is, where shes from and didn't tell him that she is/was married.

Melanie returns to her parents' house where her father walks in with Andrew. Andrew tells her how sorry he is and how he wants to still marry her. They decide to have the wedding in Alabama and Andrew's mother comes down from New York. On her wedding day, as she is walking down the aisle, and her lawyer shows up, after numerous attempts to reach her, and explains that Jake signed the divorce papers, but she didn't. Melanie decides to not sign the papers, and that she doesn't want to marry Andrew, because she still loves Jake. She tells the friends of the bride to stay and wait because she's going to go get herself a husband. As a big storm has just come, she knows that she will find him at the same beach where lightening struck years ago and they found glass (from which Jake has made a profitable business) and where they also shared their first kiss. Jake sees Melanie and says "Where's your husband?" She replies "I'm looking at him." he gives her a confused expression and asks her why she would want to be married to him. She copies the words he said to her years ago on the same beach and says "So I can kiss you any time I want."

As Jake and Melanie kiss, Wade, the town sheriff, interrupts them saying that she has deserted a perfectly good cake, and handcuffs them and takes them back to Stella's, for the wedding reception Jake never made it to as he was too drunk from the night before. All of their friends and family are waiting and instead of the perfect little bride and groom on top of the cake, Bobby removes them in favor of a set of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. Jake says he owes Melanie a dance, and as Stella is ready to put on the song, Melanie tells her to make it a slow one. "Sweet Home Alabama" starts and Melanie kisses Jake.

As the credits roll, the audience can see pictures of after the wedding. They see that Melanie and Jake have a little girl, they have opened a shop in a city and are living quite happily together.

Production

Even though the movie is centered around the city Greenville, Alabama it was actually filmed in Georgia. The Carmichael plantation, the one in which Melanie tells the reporter is her childhood home, is actually called Oak Hill. It is a historic landmark in Georgia and is on the Berry College campus in Mt. Berry, Georgia.

Also the glassblowing shop that belongs to Jake in the movie was actually an old mill, named Starr's Mill, in Fayette County Georgia. When Jake lands his plane on the lake it was actually Lake Peachtree in Peachtree City, Georgia.

About the only thing that was filmed in the State of Alabama was the coon dog cemetery that is located in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Cast

Actor	Role
Reese Witherspoon	Melanie ("Carmichael") Smooter-Perry
Josh Lucas	Jake Perry
Patrick Dempsey	Andrew Hennings
Candice Bergen	Kate Hennings
Mary Kay Place	Pearl Smooter
Fred Ward	Earl Smooter
Jean Smart	Stella Kay Perry
Ethan Embry	Bobby Ray
Melanie Lynskey	Lurlynn
Courtney Gains	Sheriff Wade
Mary Lynn Rajskub	Dorothea
Rhona Mitra	Tabatha Wadmore-Smith
Nathan Lee Graham	Frederick Montana
Kevin Sussman	Barry Lowenstein
Thomas Curtis	Young Jake
Dakota Fanning	Young Melanie

Reception

Box office

Generating the biggest opening of September, the film grossed over $35 million in its first weekend. By the end of its run in the U.S., Sweet Home Alabama grossed over $127 million and another $53,399,006 internationally.

Critical reception

The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. On the film's Rotten Tomatoes listing, 37% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 153 reviews. The film also won the following awards:

• 2003 BMI Film Music Award - George Fenton
• 2003 Teen Choice Award - Movie - Comedy
• 2003 Teen Choice Award - Movie - Liplock - Reese Witherspoon; Josh Lucas
• 2003 Teen Choice Award nomination - Movie - Actress - Reese Witherspoon
• 2003 Teen Choice Award nomination - Movie - Villain - Candice Bergen
• 2003 GLAAD Media Award nomination - Outstanding Film - Wide Release
• 2003 Golden Trailer Award nomination - Best Romance
• 2003 Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award nomination - Best Contemporary Hair Styling - Feature - Anne Morgan
• 2003 MTV Movie Award nomination - Best Female Performance - Reese Witherspoon

External links

• Sweet Home Alabama at IMDb
• Sweet Home Alabama at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sweet Home Alabama Movie