Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

Melanie Carmichael's (Reese Witherspoon) life seems like it couldn't be any better. Her debut fashion show in New York City ticks all the right boxes in the elite world of fashion; she has just been proposed to by her boyfriend, Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey), son of the Mayor (Candice Bergen); and everything seems to be going great for her.

The only problem is, her divorce from her childhood sweetheart, Jake (Josh Lucas), was never finalised, so she must return home to small-town Alabama before Andrew - and more dangerously, his mother - finds out that she isn't who she has been pretending to be for the last seven years.

Melanie Carmichael (Reese Witherspoon) at her fashion show.

Going back to where she grew up though causes more problems than it fixes, as the people she grew up with there haven't really moved on: Jake has been holding a candle for her since she left, her parents Earl (Fred Ward) and Pearl (Mary Kay Place) haven't changed at all, and her best friend Bobby Ray (Ethan Embry) is still keeping his own secret from everyone else.

And the longer she spends in Alabama, the more she comes to believe that maybe she made a mistake by leaving the life she once had, and so, as with any decently-written romantic comedy, she finds that she has to choose between the two men she loves.

Melanie with her new fiance, Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey) and his mother,
New York Mayor Kate Hennings (Candice Bergen).

The screenplay, by C. Jay Cox, is a fairly standard romantic comedy, with twists in all the right places. There is a lot of history between all the characters, a lot of it being under the surface and 'hidden' as opposed to being revealed in large chunks of expository dialogue. I found as I was watching this (again) for the purposes of reviewing it, I was laughing one moment and wiping tears away in the next from beginning to end; this is such an emotional 'ride', but in a good, cathartic way.

George Fenton's score is very good, albeit traditional. The music does not at any point dominate or take over, but is used subtly to - no pun intended - underscore the on-screen action. Fenton's use of instrumentation to suggest setting is also good, while not descending into cliche, either.

I must mention the costume design of the film, courtesy of Sophie De Rakoff, which is absolutely fantastic. The contrast between the high-fashion world of New York City and the simpler life of Alabama - while not necessarily being the main point of the film - is done well. All of the ensembles from Melanie's fashion show are absolutely stunning, many of which Melanie wears in Alabama, where they definitely do not fit in as well.

Melanie's first husband, Jake Perry (Josh Lucas).

The performances of the cast are adequate for the film, but not necessarily ground-breaking. Witherspoon does very well as Melanie, and her two main co-stars Dempsey and Lucas both have great on-screen chemistry with her. However, the best performance in my opinion is from Ethan Embry as Melanie's best friend, a character who has a lot more going on under the surface than it seems at first.

Director Andy Tennant has made - as mentioned earlier - a fairly standard romantic comedy that, while not really breaking any new ground, is nevertheless an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. I do enjoy watching it, and would recommend it to you if you haven't seen it yet, purely for the experience.

6 out of 10.