‘Sweet Home Alabama’: a typical chick flick, Grade B-
Let me start by saying “Sweet Home Alabama” was filled with over-the-top cliches and had an unrealistic ending. Other than that and the fact that it is definitely a chick flick (which was evident by the girl-to-guy ratio at the theater when I went to see it), this is not a bad movie.
OK, so it isn’t a great movie either. But it was fun, cute and full of life choices about relationships – everything a good chick flick needs, right?
The film is about Melanie (Reese Witherspoon), who left her past behind and moved to New York to become a fashion designer. After being proposed to by the mayor’s son Andrew (Patrick Dempsey), she must return to Alabama to get a divorce from her high school sweetheart Jake (Josh Lucas).
In the process, she has to come to terms with the life she has been living and the one she left behind. This includes choosing which of the two men she really loves.
The film also featured Candice Bergen and Jean Smart in roles they seem to be stereotyped into playing (see “Miss Congeniality” or the Pepsi commercials). Maybe that’s the biggest problem with this film; it is very stereotypical – from Southerners re-enacting the Civil War to mama and her pickle jars or Mel’s gay designer friend from New York. “Alabama” has a hard time deciding if it’s parodying these stereotypes or just debasing itself to perpetuating them. This idea is almost as inconsistent as the actors’ fake Southern accents.
Maybe the thing that bugged me the most was how unrealistic the ending was. When asked if he was just going to let her go, the man not chosen (and no, I’m not going to tell you who it is) just said, “Yes, I think I am” and walked away. Now isn’t that a convenient way to not have to deal with real issues. Of course, this character was so shallow anyway, with no development, that I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for him or be glad to see him go.
Perhaps the thing that intrigued me the most about this film was the crux of the decision Mel had to make. How often do we try to erase our past either to fit in with the crowd we are around or because it is too painful to remember how much we miss it?
If you need to take your girlfriend to one of “her” movies, she’ll probably love “Sweet Home Alabama.” And hey, you get to watch Witherspoon on screen. But don’t expect a movie worthy of an Academy Award. Do expect one with lots of stereotypes that skirt around some real-life issues while entertaining in the only way Hollywood knows how – mediocrity served up with a cute actress on top and a healthy dose of humor on the side.