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SWEET
HOME ALABAMA
REVIEWED
BY CHARITY BISHOP
Our
rating: 3 out of 5
Because
of: innuendo, foul language
Rated:
I have
to admit when I first saw the previews for Sweet Home Alabama in
front of Signs, I was secretly delighted. Reese
Witherspoon in another romantic comedy; a dream come true! Since the success of Legally
Blonde, and The Importance of
Earnest, Reese has taken her place among the up and coming stars of the
silver screen... where she belongs. This kind of film is just the thing that
appeals to me; part oddball, part comedy, part
searching-for-answers romance with a bit of irony on the side.
Sadly enough, however, any Hollywood comedy just can't be complete
with foul language and innuendo.
Melanie
Carmichael is a successful businesswoman in the Big Apple. Beautiful, blonde,
and personable, she's attracted the eye of the New York City mayor's son Andrew,
a Yankee Democrat. He's quite a catch in his own right... and happily oblivious to his girlfriend's
secret past life. When he pops 'the question' out of the blue, Melanie knows
she's in a whole lot of trouble... and the only way out is to take a trip to Alabama.
Her future mother in law has a fit and the tabloids run rampant
with the news. As Kate, the mayor, says, 'If this girl has
got any skeletons in her closet, we need to know about them'
-- so they can burry them! And that's just what Melanie is up to.
Returning
home to Alabama, we discover the big secret... Melanie is actually
already married to Jake, a down-home kind of boy with whom she has
a reputable past. Down here, 'Felony Melanie' as the
locals call her has quite the reputation. It appears seven
years before she dumped Jake and went to the big city to make a
name for herself. Ever since she's been begging him to sign the
divorce papers. But the 'stubborn low-life hick' refuses. In fact,
when she shows up at his door with the unsigned papers and a whole
lot of attitude, he just plain has her arrested. This forces
Melanie to take some serious time out of her busy Big Apple
schedule to try and persuade Jake that divorce is the right
option, and convince herself that moving to New York was the right
choice.
Or
was it? Suddenly with Jake back in her life, as well as a gaggle
of, yes, countrified pureblooded Rebs, Melanie is rethinking her
decisions and questioning her feelings for Jake. Meanwhile, back
in the city the mayor is equally concerned about her future
daughter in law's background. Apparently everything she told them
about where she lived, which school she attended, and what family
name she goes by is a lie. With the tabloids eager for scandal,
Kate sends her right hand man down to do a little damage control.
Suddenly Melanie is going to need some serious help... the only
problem is, has she made everyone at home too mad to lend her a
hand?
Fish
out of water stories are always popular, particularly when the
fish has to return to her own pond after swimming in the sea. Sweet Home Alabama manages to be both
bittersweet and funny while Melanie sorts out her life. Of course the trailers
give a lot of it away but it's still a kick. The
country people may be slightly stereotyped, but take it from a country girl...
they're not as far off as you might think, particularly in a small town. Reese is
obviously having a ball (as are those watching her) but it's Candice Bergen as
her would-be mother in law the mayor who really gets some jabs in. The humor is
laugh-aloud funny. Some of the running gags, like Melanie's
father's layback chair, get repeat business. Best of all,
it takes a serious look at the long-lasting effects of marriage and doesn't
gloss over attraction-based romance. Jack is a genuinely great guy and Melanie
would be a fool not to realize this. Her parents are also supportive and
forgiving. I laughed and cried... and cringed.
No
movie is perfect. And Sweet Home Alabama does unfortunately suffer from some sexual innuendo
and language. The innuendo, or what would better be called 'coarse dialogue,' is
offensive. Derogatory remarks are made about male privet parts
and at one point, Melanie gets drunk at a party and insults
everyone in the room. She makes comments about how one guy present
never 'got any' with ANY of the girls in town, mentions the night
Jake got her pregnant, and gives away an old friend's big 'secret'
-- that he's gay. We learn over time that Melanie's reason for
marrying Jake was because they got pregnant. She then had a
miscarriage and her life fell apart. (She actually feels remorse
for having at the time considered it a relief. In a refreshing
turn, there's no mention of abortion. The pair never even thought
about it.)
Language
isn't overly gritty but made up of uncomfortable anatomical
references and abuses of deity. What makes me uncomfortable is
that most of the 'Oh, my God!' exclamations throughout
the film are played for laughs. That phrase becomes a hinge for
90% of the dialogue. There are also three abuses of Christ's
name, and two of Jesus. Two gay characters appear in the
background. One is Melanie's overly stereotyped black fashion designing best
bud. On seeing Jake for the first time, he purrs
coyly, 'I saw him first!' The second is Billy Ray, one
of the home town boys. His friends don't welcome the news but
don't get down on it either. There's also a joke revolving around
a lesbian, and a story about how Melanie strapped a cat to dynamite
and actually blew up part of the bank when it got away
from her. (To be fair, she wanted to give the cat a less painful
death than the vet's intended means of killing it... and it didn't
work anyway. Old scruffy is still around.)
If
you liked Legally Blonde, this film will
be right up your ally... which is what filmmakers are counting on. I was grieved
by the closing credits, because it was a great idea. It is funny.
There are great lessons about learning to patch up relationships
and work through marriage problems. It could have been written
beautifully without all the foul language and insulting sexual
references; as it stands, I don't know if it's worth a trip to Sweet Home Alabama.
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