|
Review by Harvey Karten
2½ stars out of 4
Where would you prefer to live? If you're from a big city, is your
dream to move to the 'burbs? To a rural town? If you're in a small
town now, do you dream of spending your years near Broadway's
lights and Zabar's lox? Ambitious young people in the rich
countries of the west tend to move from villages to larger areas for
more opportunities, while in retirement the warmer climes with
fewer expenses seem to beckon. Andy Tennant's "Sweet Home
Alabama" centers on a youthful career woman who did indeed
takes advantages of an opportunity when she left the husband she
married after he made her pregnant, moves to the Big Apple, and
lands on magazine covers as a fashion designer ready to take on
Calvin Klein. This sentimental story that illustrates the expression,
"You can move the girl from the south but you can't move the
south from the girl" is about as original as the aphorism, but
Reese Witherspoon as the energetic yet vulnerable character
provides enough entertainment to justify the homely cliches.
Dubbed "America's Sweetheart" by Disney, Witherspoon
performs in the role of Melanie, who has not only wowed the
fashion industry with her own show but is courted by the New
York's most eligible bachelor, Andrew (Patrick Dempsey), who is
as handsome and as bland as John F. Kennedy Jr. In one
Cinderella scene he gives her a surprise party to die for, meeting
her in a darkened Tiffany's jewelry store which lights up to reveal a
staff of sales agents ready to sell her any diamond she chooses.
Melanie knows this guy for just eight months, and oh, he's also
the son of Kate (Candice Bergen), who is New York's mayor, and
is considered a future candidate for President.
Do we believe she'd throw over the country's prime catch to
return to the guy who once knocked her up (the handsome and
manyly Josh Lucas in the role of Jake), showed up drunk at their
wedding some seven years earlier, and now lives in a shack in
Pigeon Creek, Alabama? Of course we do, because this is a
romantic comedy, which means the more two people fight, the
more likely they will get together in the very end. While no one in
the audience really thinks that Melanie will marry New York's
most prominent young man, predictability is not an issue. What
counts is that C. Jay Cox's narrative is well constructed and that
Andy Tennant has a feel for the two cultures. As the Civil War
battle reconstruction punctuates, Pigeon Creek, AL (filmed in
Florida) and New York, NY are two different worlds. We get a
glimpse of southern rubes, including Melanie's folks (Fred Ward
and Mary Kay Place), who turn out to be smarter and bearing
more common sense than their city-mouse opposites. The one
character who doesn't work, who is an embarrassment given that
we're in the 21st Century, is Bobby Ray (Ethan Embry), the town's
wide-eyed gay, who makes eyes at a few of the men in his
vicinity.
Am I encouraged by this portrayal of southern sincerity to move
out of New York? No way. Tuscaloosa's calling, but I'm not going.
Copyright © 2002 Harvey Karten
|
out of 4
