Sweet Home Alabama (film)

Sweet Home Alabama
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andy Tennant
Screenplay by	C. Jay Cox
Story by	Douglas J. Eboch
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz Stokely Chaffin
Starring	Reese Witherspoon Josh Lucas Patrick Dempsey Fred Ward Mary Kay Place Jean Smart Candice Bergen
Cinematography	Andrew Dunn
Edited by	Troy Takaki Tracey Wadmore-Smith
Music by	George Fenton
Production companies	Touchstone Pictures Original Film
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release date	September 27, 2002 (2002-09-27) (United States)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million[1]
Box office	$180.6 million[1]

Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant and starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey, Fred Ward, Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart, and Candice Bergen. It was released in the United States on September 27, 2002, by Buena Vista Pictures. The film takes its title from the 1974 Lynyrd Skynyrd song of the same name.

Plot[]

On a beach in the fictional town of Pigeon Creek, Alabama, 10-year-olds Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter inspect the result of lightning striking sand. Jake asserts that they will be married one day.

In the present day, Melanie is a successful New York fashion designer who has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots. After wealthy Andrew Hennings proposes, Melanie returns to Alabama to announce her engagement to her parents and finalize a divorce from her estranged husband, Jake. Meanwhile, Kate Hennings, Andrew's mother and the Mayor of New York City, doubts Melanie's suitability to wed her son, whom she is grooming to run for President of the United States.

Melanie visits Jake, who has avoided signing the divorce papers. After Jake orders Melanie out of his house, Melanie empties Jake's checking account, hoping to spur him into ending the marriage. Jake finally relents and agrees to the divorce and promises to return the signed papers the next morning. Later, at a local bar, Melanie gets drunk, insults her old school friends, and outs her old childhood friend, Bobby Ray Bailey. The next morning, Melanie finds the signed document on her bed.

Melanie goes to the Carmichael plantation and apologizes to Bobby Ray. She is cornered there by Kate's assistant, sent there to gather information on Melanie's background. Bobby Ray backs up her pretense that she is a relative and the family mansion is her childhood home. Melanie reconciles with her friends and learns that after she split with Jake, he had followed her to New York to win her back. Intimidated by the city and her success, he returned home to make something of himself first. She and Jake have a heart-to-heart talk, and Melanie understands why he never signed their divorce papers.

Andrew arrives to surprise Melanie, but upon learning her true background and that Jake was her husband, he angrily leaves. He later returns, saying he still wants to marry Melanie, and the wedding is immediately set in motion. Melanie's New York friends arrive for the event. While visiting a nearby restaurant/resort with a glassblowing gallery, they admire the glass sculptures that are similar to ones they have seen in New York. Melanie realizes Jake is the artist and he owns the resort.

During Melanie and Andrew's wedding at the Carmichael estate, a lawyer arrives and halts the ceremony. He has the divorce papers, which Melanie never signed. Melanie realizes she still loves Jake and cancels the wedding. She and Andrew wish each other well, though Kate berates Andrew and insults Melanie, her family, and the entire town, for which Melanie punches her in the jaw. Melanie finds Jake at the beach planting lightning rods in the sand during a rainstorm to create more glass sculptures. She says they are still married. They return to what would have been Melanie and Andrew's reception, and finally, have their first dance as husband and wife.

A mid-credits sequence shows that they have a baby daughter, Melanie continues to thrive as a designer, and Jake opens a "Deep South Glass" franchise in New York. Andrew is engaged to a girl named Erin Vanderbilt.

Cast[]

Production[]

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Casting[]

Charlize Theron was considered for the lead role before Reese Witherspoon was cast.

Katherine Towne was cast as Witherspoon's character's assistant who ultimately ends up marrying the Patrick Dempsey character, but all other scenes were dropped in the final cut.

Filming[]

Although centered in a fictional version of the town of Pigeon Creek, near a fictional version of Greenville, Alabama, the film was mostly shot in Georgia. The Carmichael Plantation, which Melanie tells the reporter is her childhood home, is the Oak Hill Berry Museum, a historic landmark in Georgia which is on the campus of Berry College in Rome, Georgia.

Sweet Home Alabama was the first film allowed to shoot in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was also the first film allowed to film at Tiffany's since Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).

The streets and storefronts of Crawfordville, Georgia, were used as the backdrop for the Catfish Festival and other downtown scenes. The coonhound cemetery was on Moore Street in Crawfordville and the bar was located at Heavy's Barbecue near the town. Glass that forms when lightning hits sand, as in the film, is called fulgurite.

Jake's glassblowing shop was filmed at an old mill named Starr's Mill, in Fayette County, Georgia. Wynn's Pond in Sharpsburg, Georgia, is the location where Jake lands his plane. The historic homes shown at Melanie's return to Pigeon Creek were shot in Eufaula, Alabama.

The film title and theme song lyrics are from the "Sweet Home Alabama" song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, which first appeared on their second album, Second Helping (1974).^[2][3]

Release[]

Critical response[]

This film received mostly mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, 38% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 5.19/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Reese Witherspoon is charming enough, but the road to Alabama is well-traveled."^[4] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[5]

Roger Ebert, critic for the Chicago Sun Times, awarded it three-out-of-four stars, commenting, "It is a fantasy, a sweet, light-hearted fairy tale with Reese Witherspoon at its center. She is as lovable as Doris Day would have been in this role... So I enjoyed Witherspoon and the local color, but I am so very tired of the underlying premise."^[6]

Andrew Sarris, critic for the New York Observer, said that the movie "Would be an unendurable viewing experience for this ultra-provincial New Yorker if 26-year-old Reese Witherspoon were not on hand to inject her pure fantasy character, Melanie Carmichael, with a massive infusion of old-fashioned Hollywood magic."^[7]

Box office performance[]

The film grossed over US$35 million in its first weekend. By the end of its run in the United States, Sweet Home Alabama grossed over US$130 million, and another US$53,399,006 internationally. With a reported budget of US$30 million, it was a box office hit, despite the mixed reviews.^[1]

Accolades[]

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Association	Category	Recipient	Result	References
BMI Film & Television Award	BMI Film Music Award	George Fenton	Won
GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding Film—Wide Release	Sweet Home Alabama	Nominated
Golden Trailer Award	Best Romance	Secretary	Nominated
Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award	Best Contemporary Hair Styling—Feature	Anne Morgan	Nominated
MTV Movie + TV Award	Best Female Performance	Reese Witherspoon	Nominated
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie – Comedy	Sweet Home Alabama	Won	[8]
	Choice Movie Actress – Comedy	Reese Witherspoon	Nominated	[9]
	Choice Movie Villain	Candice Bergen	Nominated
	Choice Movie Liplock	Reese Witherspoon & Josh Lucas	Won	[8]

Soundtrack[]

Sweet Home Alabama (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the film soundtrack, includes thirteen songs by different artists.^[10]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Sweet Home Alabama"	Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, Edward King	Jewel	3:43
2.	"Mine All Mine"	Kristyn Osborn, Hollie Poole	SHeDAISY	3:55
3.	"Falling Down"	Avril Lavigne, David Alspach, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards	Avril Lavigne	3:54
4.	"Gonna Make You Love Me"	Ryan Adams	Ryan Adams	2:36
5.	"To Think I Used to Love You (DJ Homicide Remix)"	Uncle Kracker	Uncle Kracker	3:26
6.	"Keep Your Hands to Yourself"	Daniel J. Baird	The Calling	3:06
7.	"Bring On the Day"	Amy Powers, Jeffrey C.J. Vanston	Charlotte Martin	4:33
8.	"Long Gone Lonesome Blues"	Hank Williams	Sheryl Crow	2:55
9.	"You Got Me"	Jason Chain	Jason Chain	3:44
10.	"Now That I Know"	Eric Bazilian, Shannon McNally	Shannon McNally	4:44
11.	"Marry Me"	Dolly Parton	Dolly Parton	3:15
12.	"Weekend Song"	Matt Cantor, Pete Chill, Aston Harvey, Tenor Fly	Freestylers	3:58
13.	"Felony Melanie - Sweet Home Alabama Suite (Score)"	George Fenton	George Fenton	5:02
Total length:				48:51

See also[]

• The Judge—a 2014 film with a similar plot of a protagonist with a successful big city career drawn back to an old hometown.
• Middle America

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sweet Home Alabama

• Sweet Home Alabama at IMDb