Title: Sweet Home Alabama

Year Released/Rating: 2002 PG-13

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey

Directed By: Andy Tennant

Written By: Douglas J. Eboch, C. Jay Cox

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Star Rating: 5/5 stars

Where I Got It: I own it

Trivia:

Two dogs mentioned in the movie, "Bear" and "Bryant", are references to legendary University of Alabama head football coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant.
An entire character (along with a subplot about her) was deleted from the film, when test audiences consistently misunderstood her relationship with Andrew. Erin Vanderbilt (played by Katharine Towne) survives in the finished movie only in a newspaper wedding announcement shown to Melanie during the closing credits.
Earl asks Pearl to pull the bologna cake out of the freezer when Melanie announces her engagement. This tasty item came to the film as a dish served to one of the (many) script re-writers by his fiancée, who was from Indiana. It is bologna, cream cheese and horseradish.
Jake's glassblowing shop was filmed in Fayette County Georgia at an old mill called Starr's Mill. The exterior was repainted and the porch was rebuilt for the movie. The bridges were later washed away in a flood.

Summary: A young woman with a Southern background runs away from her husband in Alabama and reinvents herself as a New York socialite.

Review:

Hands down my favorite romantic comedy. I love turning to this movie when I need a bit of a pick me up. I love everything about it: the characters, the story line, the setting, the ending. Reese Witherspoon is too charming as the fish out of water in her hometown. And I absolutely adore both the leading men. The movie doesn't make one the villain and the other the hero. Instead, we see two different choices for Melanie. I love the one she picks, but she could have easily picked the other. And that scene in the graveyard gets me every time. I end up a blubbering mess. The movie makes me laugh, smile, and cry. It's a winner in my book!

Best Bits:

Earl Smooter: You can't ride two horses with one ass, sugarbean.
Jake: [not recognizing Melanie in her sunglasses] Can I help you? Melanie: Well, for starters, you can get your stubborn ass down here and give me a divorce. Jake: You're shittin' me, right? Melanie: I never fully understood that expression, but no, I am not "shitting" you.
Jake: The only reason I ain't signing is cause you've turned into some hoity-toity Yankee bitch, and I'd like nothing better right now than to piss you off.
Melanie: Well, you must be Jake's hot date. I'm Melanie, Jake's snotty Yankee bitch wife whom he refuses to divorce.
Mayor Kate Hennings: [smacks mosquito] One down, a six million to go. Earl Smooter: Careful, you just killed the state bird of Alabama!
Melanie: And don't even pretend like you missed me. Jake: Oh, I missed you all right, but at this range, my aim is bound to improve.
Melanie: People need a passport to come down here.
Bobby Ray: You know us Southerns. I mean, the minute the Confederacy died it became immortal.