Sweet Home Alabama (film)
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| 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 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) |
Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 movie that was released on September 27, 2002 and was directed by Andy Tennant.
Tagline: Sometimes What You're Looking For Is Right Where You Left It
Plot
The movie starts out with two kids running on a beach. They are Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter. both ten years old. It's raining and lightning is striking every couple of seconds. Jake looks over at Melanie. He tells her that he wants to marry her. She asks him why. He says so that he can kiss her whenever he wants. He leans into kiss her just as lightning is about to strike the very spot where they stand.
An older Melanie (Reese Witherspoon) now lives in New York and is a famous fashion designer. She is putting the finishing touches on a show for later that night. She goes to her apartment and there are rose petals all over the place. She smiles since she knows they are from her boyfriend Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey). There's a message from him saying he'll see her at the show. After the show, Andrew takes her to a surprise place before going to an event for his mother because she is the mayor of New York. He takes her to Tiffany's and proposes and she accepts. They decide to keep it quiet for a couple of days but Andrew's mother/mayor, Kate (Candice Bergen), finds out and blabs. Melanie later tells Andrew she wants to go to Alabama to tell her parents in person. He tells her he would love to go since he has never met her family, but she insists on going alone.
Melanie is now in Alabama. Her first stop is Jake's (Josh Lucas). He doesn't recognize her at first.She tells him she wants a divorce. He refuses to give one to her.
Later on, she goes to see her parents Pearl (Mary Kay Place) and Earl (Fred Ward). One day she goes to the local bank to get some money. The bank teller tells her to get it out of her joint account with Jake. She does and decides to redecorate his house. He is not too happy with this.
She tries several more times with Jake to get him to sign the papers but he won't change his mind. One night she decides to go to the local bar owned by Jake's mother Stella Kay (Jean Smart). She runs into many old friends. She decides to have little fun and has a few drinks. She has a few too many and spills many secrets about her friends that people in town didn't know. She lets it slip that Bobby Ray (Ethan Embry), her best friend from high school, is gay. She also reveals that she and Jake got married because she was pregnant,but had a miscarriage. He runs out of the bar. Jake is angry with Melanie. He tells her she can't treat people like that. He puts her in his truck to take her home. When she wakes up the next morning the divorce papers are laying on her bed signed by Jake. She mails the papers.
She decides it's time for her to leave town. She goes and works everything out with Jake and Bobby Ray. While she is in town she runs into an old friend from school. She tells Melanie that Jake went to New York a year after she left to try and find her. He still loved her and wanted her back. Melanie is shocked at the news. Later that night she goes to into town. She has a long talk with Jake about why the marriage didn't make it, about the baby that they lost and why she left. Jake gives Melanie his blessing for her new life with Andrew.
The next day, Andrew arrives in town. He has stopped at what he thinks is Melanie's house. Jake has also stopped at the house. They talk and Jake finds out that it is Melanie's boyfriend. He doesn't tell Andrew who he is though. Jake and Andrew meet up with Melanie, where Andrew soon finds out that Melanie is married to Jake. He runs off angrily after learning that Jake is still in love with Melanie.
Melanie is soon back at her parents' house. Her father walks in with Andrew. Andrew tells Melanie how sorry he is. He tells her he still wants to marry her. The wedding plans go on. Andrew's mother comes from New York since they have decided to have the wedding in Alabama. The big day has arrived. As Melanie is walking down the aisle, an older man is running after her. She recognizes him as her lawyer. He tells her that she didn't sign the papers. She gets a pen to sign them but realizes that she still loves Jake and doesn't want to marry Andrew. Andrew says he feels the same. They break off the wedding and she goes in search of Jake.
Jake is on the same beach where they were once at years earlier. Melanie tells him she didn't marry Andrew because she wanted to stay married to Jake. When he asks her why, she tells him so that she can kiss him whenever she wants to. They do kiss. They go to the wedding reception where friends and family wait. In the end, the couple end up having a daughter.
Box office
Generating the biggest opening of September, the film grossed over $38 million in its first weekend.[citation needed] By the end of its run in the U.S., Sweet Home Alabama grossed over $127 million and another $53,399,006 internationally.[citation needed]
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Reese Witherspoon | Melanie ("Carmichael") Smooter Perry |
| Josh Lucas | Jake Perry |
| Patrick Dempsey | Andrew Hennings |
| Candice Bergen | Mayor Kate Hennings |
| Mary Kay Place | Pearl Smooter |
| Fred Ward | Earl Smooter |
| Jean Smart | Stella Kay |
| Ethan Embry | Bobby Ray |
| Melanie Lynskey | Lurlynn |
| Courtney Gains | Sheriff Wade |
| Mary Lynn Rajskub | Dorothea |
| Rhona Mitra | Tabatha |
| Nathan Lee Graham | Frederick |
| Sean Bridgers | Eldon |
| Fleet Cooper | Clinton |
| Thomas Curtis | Young Jake |
| Dakota Fanning | Young Melanie |
Trivia
- The hound named Bryant and his predecessor Bear are references to legendary Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.[citation needed]
- An alternate ending, featured on the DVD had Melanie and Jake faking her death, later revealed to their families as a joke to everyone's laughter. The scene was the original ending but sample audiences found it too morbid.
- The glass "artworks" (actually called fulgurites) formed by lightning hitting sand that Josh Lucas's character creates to sell in his glass shop were based on American artist Allan McCollum's 1997 "Petrified Lighting" project.[citation needed]
- Reese Witherspoon was not the first choice for the role of Melanie. Charlize Theron was originally slated to play Melanie but dropped the role in anticipation of an actors strike, choosing a ready-to-go movie role instead.[citation needed]
- The Tiffany's jewelery shop scene was parodied in Date Movie.
External links
