bnorthup
09-29-2002, 11:38 PM
Sweet Home Alabama (PG-13)
At the Circus
2 stars
Reese’s pieces deliver empty calories
By Brent Northup
Those of us raised in small towns who love rural America more than we love urban sprawl were bound to be the first in line to see “Sweet Home Alabama.”
The plot seems so perfect: a small town girl with country roots heads for New York to escape her embarrassing roots and make something of herself. Then, just as she’s about to marry into one of the wealthiest families in the Big Apple, she has second thoughts and begins to wonder if she’s running away from real happiness – a happiness that just might be back in sweet home Alabama.
Boy, did I want to like this film. Its message is so close to my own values.
But, alas, I was unmoved and ultimately disappointed by this formula Hollywood outing that just doesn’t understand small-town roots. The words are right, but the heart is not.
Atop my list of problems is Reese Witherspoon. Not for one second did I believe she was a country girl. Fact is, she was born in Louisiana and married on a South Carolina plantation. Seems like she might be authentic, right? Well, the great irony in this film is that Witherspoon radiates “big city girl” who has become a Hollywood star. On the most personal of levels, I could sense no humility in her – forgive my disrespect, but she seems like an arrogant snob who is getting paid a lot for trying to pretend she’s a humble small town girl. For me, at least, the ruse never works.
The two men who play the potential husbands pose a different problem. Jake, the Alabama choice for marriage, also doesn’t radiate small town sensibility. Something’s missing in his portrayal of the kid who never left the place where he grew up. As for the romance, I found no sparks when they kissed – and never, ever hoped she’d choose Jake.
The New York option, played by Patrick Dempsey, is supposed to be the arrogant “Kennedy-style” aristocrat who we all hope will be abandoned in the name of true love. But in my heart, he was the only honest character on the screen. Sure, he’s filthy rich and flaunts it, but he’s also pretty honest – and I found his heart appealing, even though his swaggering persona was trying to annoy me.
In other words, I was pulling for her to abandon Alabama and go to New York where she’ll be loved by an honest guy and where she’ll be quite like her peers.
“Sweet Home Alabama” is a wasted chance to honor small-town roots. By casting an actress in the lead whose spirit is distinctly upper class, Hollywood becomes guilty of the very crime it purports to hate: It’s large-scale hypocrisy to pretend to honor small-town America while making a movie that has such a fast-track aura.
Now for the disclaimer: I know, almost certainly, that this will be enormously popular. The crowd with me was very much enjoying this “Julia Roberts lookalike film.” It’s a slickly crafted romantic comedy that knows how to make the surface oh-so-appealing.
But the soul of “Sweet Home Alabama” is cold and cynical. The directors needed to spend some time in the stands at an old fashioned Montana down-home ranch rodeo – like the one in White Sulphur Springs on July 4 – to learn what warm-hearted small town folks are really like. That day I saw a family with a goat on a leash – in the stands!
And nobody remotely like Reese Witherspoon was eating hot dogs there that day.
END
At the Circus
2 stars
Reese’s pieces deliver empty calories
By Brent Northup
Those of us raised in small towns who love rural America more than we love urban sprawl were bound to be the first in line to see “Sweet Home Alabama.”
The plot seems so perfect: a small town girl with country roots heads for New York to escape her embarrassing roots and make something of herself. Then, just as she’s about to marry into one of the wealthiest families in the Big Apple, she has second thoughts and begins to wonder if she’s running away from real happiness – a happiness that just might be back in sweet home Alabama.
Boy, did I want to like this film. Its message is so close to my own values.
But, alas, I was unmoved and ultimately disappointed by this formula Hollywood outing that just doesn’t understand small-town roots. The words are right, but the heart is not.
Atop my list of problems is Reese Witherspoon. Not for one second did I believe she was a country girl. Fact is, she was born in Louisiana and married on a South Carolina plantation. Seems like she might be authentic, right? Well, the great irony in this film is that Witherspoon radiates “big city girl” who has become a Hollywood star. On the most personal of levels, I could sense no humility in her – forgive my disrespect, but she seems like an arrogant snob who is getting paid a lot for trying to pretend she’s a humble small town girl. For me, at least, the ruse never works.
The two men who play the potential husbands pose a different problem. Jake, the Alabama choice for marriage, also doesn’t radiate small town sensibility. Something’s missing in his portrayal of the kid who never left the place where he grew up. As for the romance, I found no sparks when they kissed – and never, ever hoped she’d choose Jake.
The New York option, played by Patrick Dempsey, is supposed to be the arrogant “Kennedy-style” aristocrat who we all hope will be abandoned in the name of true love. But in my heart, he was the only honest character on the screen. Sure, he’s filthy rich and flaunts it, but he’s also pretty honest – and I found his heart appealing, even though his swaggering persona was trying to annoy me.
In other words, I was pulling for her to abandon Alabama and go to New York where she’ll be loved by an honest guy and where she’ll be quite like her peers.
“Sweet Home Alabama” is a wasted chance to honor small-town roots. By casting an actress in the lead whose spirit is distinctly upper class, Hollywood becomes guilty of the very crime it purports to hate: It’s large-scale hypocrisy to pretend to honor small-town America while making a movie that has such a fast-track aura.
Now for the disclaimer: I know, almost certainly, that this will be enormously popular. The crowd with me was very much enjoying this “Julia Roberts lookalike film.” It’s a slickly crafted romantic comedy that knows how to make the surface oh-so-appealing.
But the soul of “Sweet Home Alabama” is cold and cynical. The directors needed to spend some time in the stands at an old fashioned Montana down-home ranch rodeo – like the one in White Sulphur Springs on July 4 – to learn what warm-hearted small town folks are really like. That day I saw a family with a goat on a leash – in the stands!
And nobody remotely like Reese Witherspoon was eating hot dogs there that day.
END