by Gloria Diaz
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Is it possible to find your soul mate at the age of 10? Some people are nodding their heads in agreement, while others are saying “no way.” But for Melanie and Jake this was reality in “Sweet Home Alabama,” starring Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas.
The movie opens with youngsters Melanie and Jake swearing their love for each other in a computer-generated thunderstorm. What are 10 year-olds doing out in a thunderstorm?
Witherspoon plays Melanie Carmichael, an up-and-coming New York City fashion designer who, on the night of her debut fashion show, is whisked to Tiffany’s where her boyfriend Andrew (Patrick Dempsey) proposes to her.
She beamingly accepts, and he then asks her the three words every woman wants to hear: “take your pick” of any ring in the store. Melanie proceeds to pick the one with a diamond as big as Madison Square Garden.
The proposal prompts her to take a trip back to the hick town she came from, Pigeon Creek, Ala., to get the divorce from the husband she married right after high school, Jake (Lucas).
Upon her arrival, she drives to the house they once lived in, where Jake currently resides. Our first view of Jake is in a half open plaid shirt with grease on his face, certainly some eye candy for the women in the audience.
She pesters him to sign the papers. To get her out of his hair, he calls the sheriff to have her arrested for breaking and entering. Her revenge: clean out their joint bank account.
Within the first 45 minutes of the story, we see that Jake is 10 times more attractive than Andrew, which poses an interesting question: the fairy tale prince from the city or the redneck stud with a six pack?
Strangely once she arrives back in Alabama her southern accent re-appears. Proving “You can take the girl out of the honky-tonk, but you can’t take the honky-tonk out of the girl,” as one character exclaimed.
Seeing Pigeon Creek for the first time it is obvious that Melanie’s childhood was not the aristocratic plantation life she had adamantly described to Andrew and the press.
Her husband’s refusal to sign the divorce papers leaves her with no choice but to stay in Pigeon Creek and revisit the life she left behind, pre-New York City.
She brags about her success and flashes her engagement ring as if it were going out of style, making her friends feel inadequate.
Melanie’s arrogance shows through at the local bar over a game of pool where she gets drunk with her old chums and she purposely outs her closeted male friend because, as she later explains, if everyone were looking at him they would not notice her obnoxious behavior.
Reese Witherspoon fans will certainly enjoy this movie, not for the script but for her million dollar smile of sheer joy.
“Sweet Home Alabama” struggles to connect the dots of its storyline, which leaves its audience wondering why exactly did Melanie leave Pigeon Creek (aside from the obvious reasons). The movie does give some insight that answers this question but once it does it returns to the comedy side of “Alabama.”
Although the colloquialisms of Pigeon Creek and arguments between Jake and Melanie give “Alabama” the comedy it needs to distract the viewer from missing pieces of the Melanie puzzle. “Alabama” tries hard to keep its audience entertained, which it does achieve.
In New York Melanie lives the fairy tale life, but going back to her hometown bursts the bubble of the dream and awakens her to the reality of her humble beginnings.
Although “Alabama” has its problems, it still succeeds in making its audience cry, laugh and frustrated. It is certainly a Saturday night treat.
