View source for Sweet Home Alabama (film)

{{Short description|2002 American romantic comedy-drama film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Sweet Home Alabama
| image          = Sweet Home Alabama film.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Andy Tennant]]
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Neal H. Moritz]]
* Stokely Chaffin
}}
| screenplay     = [[C. Jay Cox]]
| story          = [[Douglas J. Eboch]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist| <!-- per impawards poster billing -->
* [[Reese Witherspoon]]
* [[Josh Lucas]]
* [[Patrick Dempsey]]
* [[Fred Ward]]
* [[Mary Kay Place]]
* [[Jean Smart]]
* [[Candice Bergen]]
}}
| music          = [[George Fenton]]
| cinematography = [[Andrew Dunn (cinematographer)|Andrew Dunn]]	
| editing        = {{Plainlist|
* Troy Takaki
* Tracey Wadmore-Smith
}}
| production_companies = {{Plainlist|
* [[Touchstone Pictures]]
* [[Original Film]]
}}
| distributor    = [[Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures|Buena Vista Pictures Distribution]]
| released       = {{Film date|2002|9|27|United States}}
| runtime        = 109 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $30 million<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo" />
| gross          = $180.6 million<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo" />
}}

'''''Sweet Home Alabama''''' is a 2002 American [[Romance film|romantic]] [[comedy-drama]] film directed by [[Andy Tennant]]. Written by [[C. Jay Cox]], it stars [[Reese Witherspoon]], [[Josh Lucas]] and [[Patrick Dempsey]]. The supporting cast includes [[Fred Ward]], [[Mary Kay Place]], [[Jean Smart]], [[Candice Bergen]], [[Ethan Embry]], and [[Melanie Lynskey]]. It was released in the United States on September 27, 2002, by [[Buena Vista Pictures]] through their [[Touchstone Pictures]] banner. The film takes its title from the 1974 [[Lynyrd Skynyrd]] [[Sweet Home Alabama|song of the same name]]. It received unfavorable critical reception,<ref name="RottenTomatoes" /> but was a success at the box office.<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo" />

==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries for feature films should be between 400 to 700 words. -->
On a beach in 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, Melanie is a New York fashion designer who has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots. After wealthy Andrew Hennings proposes, Melanie returns to her hometown to Pigeon Creek, Alabama, to announce her engagement to her parents Earl and Pearl Smooter and to finalize her divorce from her estranged husband Jake, whom she married as a pregnant teenager and left after she miscarried their baby. Meanwhile, Kate Hennings, Andrew's mother and the incumbent Mayor of [[New York City]], doubts Melanie's suitability for her son, whom she is grooming to run for President of the United States.

Melanie visits Jake, who has refused to sign divorce papers over the years since she left for New York. After he orders her out of the house, Melanie empties Jake's checking account, hoping to spur him into ending the marriage. Angry, Jake leaves to meet some friends at the local bar. Melanie follows and gets drunk, insults her old school friends, and outs her longtime friend, Bobby Ray. Jake scolds her and takes her home, preventing her from driving drunk, and Melanie wakes to find the signed divorce papers on her bed.

Melanie goes to the Carmichael plantation and apologizes to Bobby Ray, whose family lives there. She is cornered there by Kate's assistant Barry Lowenstein, who is sent to gather information on Melanie's background, posing as a reporter for the [[New York Post]]. 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 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, and Melanie realizes why he never signed their divorce papers.

Andrew arrives to surprise Melanie, but upon discovering her true background and that she is married, he angrily leaves. He later returns, saying he still wants to marry her, and the wedding is set into motion. Melanie's New York friends arrive. While visiting a restaurant/resort with a glassblowing gallery, they admire its glass sculptures. Melanie realizes that Jake is the artist and owns the resort.

During Melanie and Andrew's wedding at the Carmichael estate, Wallace Buford, Melanie's attorney, halts the ceremony. He has the divorce papers, which Melanie hadn't signed. As Melanie is about to sign the papers, she realizes that her love for Jake is still there. She tells Andrew that she gave her heart to Jake and never got it back. She and Andrew wish each other well; Kate then berates Melanie and her mother, for which Melanie punches Kate. Before running off to find Jake, she tells everyone who is friends and family of the bride to stick around.

Melanie finds Jake at the beach planting lightning rods in the sand to create more glass sculptures. She tells him they are still married, and they return to what would have been Melanie and Andrew's wedding reception, where they 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==
<!--- [[WP:NOTDATABASE]] - cast per opening stand-alone credits, roles and order per closing credits scroll --->
{{Cast listing| <!-- opening title cards -->
* [[Reese Witherspoon]] as Melanie Carmichael (née Smooter)
* [[Josh Lucas]] as Jake Perry
* [[Patrick Dempsey]] as Andrew Hennings
* [[Fred Ward]] as Earl Smooter
* [[Mary Kay Place]] as Pearl Smooter
* [[Jean Smart]] as Stella Kay Perry
* [[Ethan Embry]] as Bobby Ray Bailey
* [[Melanie Lynskey]] as Lurlynn
<!-- 2 at a time -->
* [[Courtney Gains]] as Sheriff Wade
* [[Mary Lynn Rajskub]] as Dorothea
* [[Rhona Mitra]] as Tabatha Wadmore-Smith
* [[Nathan Lee Graham]] as Frederick Montana
* [[Candice Bergen]] as Kate Hennings
* [[Kevin Sussman]] as Barry Lowenstein
* Katharine Towne as Erin Vanderbilt
}}

In addition, [[Dakota Fanning]] and [[Thomas Curtis (actor)|Thomas Curtis]] appear briefly as the childhood versions of Melanie and Jake, respectively.

==Production==
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2016}}

===Casting===
[[Charlize Theron]] was considered for the lead role before Reese Witherspoon was cast.

Katharine 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 (U.S. state)|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 near the campus of [[Berry College]] in [[Rome, Georgia]].

''Sweet Home Alabama'' was the first film allowed to be shot in New York City after the [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001 attacks]]. It was also the first film allowed to film at [[Tiffany & Co.]] since ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|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 where Jake lands his plane. The historic homes shown at Melanie's return to Pigeon Creek were shot in [[Eufaula, Alabama]].

==Release==

===Critical response===
This film received mostly negative reviews from critics. On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds a critical score of 38% based on 160 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."<ref name="RottenTomatoes">{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sweet_home_alabama |title=Sweet Home Alabama (2002) |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]] |access-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-date=May 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516060246/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sweet_home_alabama/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/sweet-home-alabama |title=Sweet Home Alabama Reviews |website=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |access-date=July 4, 2019 |archive-date=July 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718201444/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/sweet-home-alabama |url-status=live }}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemascore.com|title=Find CinemaScore|format=Type "Sweet Home Alabama" in the search box|publisher=[[CinemaScore]]|access-date=March 15, 2023}}</ref>

[[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."<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Sweet Home Alabama |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sweet-home-alabama-2002 |date=September 27, 2002 |access-date=1 May 2022 |work=RogerEbert.com |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502011358/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sweet-home-alabama-2002 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[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."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.reelviews.net/movies/s/sweet_home.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212133303/http://www.reelviews.net/movies/s/sweet_home.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 12, 2007|title=Review: Sweet Home Alabama|date=February 12, 2007}}</ref>

===Box office performance===
The film grossed over US$35 million in its first weekend, ranking number one at the box office, beating ''[[The Tuxedo]]'' and ''[[Barbershop (film)|Barbershop]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Linder|first=Brian|title=Weekend Box Office: Home Sweet Home|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/10/01/weekend-box-office-home-sweet-home|website=IGN|access-date=May 20, 2023|date=October 1, 2002}}</ref> At the time, it had the highest September opening weekend, surpassing ''[[Rush Hour (1998 film)|Rush Hour]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-01-et-boxoffice1-story.html|title=Moviegoers Make It a 'Sweet' September|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=October 1, 2002|access-date=November 5, 2022|archive-date=November 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105221102/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-01-et-boxoffice1-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> For a decade, the film would hold this record until 2012 when ''[[Hotel Transylvania (film)|Hotel Transylvania]]'' took it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2015/09/the-intern-hotel-transylvania-2-the-green-inferno-weekend-box-office-1201550112/|title=''Hotel Transylvania 2'' At $48.5M Marks Record Opening For Adam Sandler; 'Intern' Slacks On Sunday – Monday Postmortem|first=Anthony |last=D'Alessandro|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|publisher=([[Penske Media Corporation]])|date=September 28, 2015|access-date=September 29, 2015|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108102840/https://deadline.com/2015/09/the-intern-hotel-transylvania-2-the-green-inferno-weekend-box-office-1201550112/|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite getting dethroned by ''[[Red Dragon (2002 film)|Red Dragon]]'', it still made $21.3 million during its second weekend.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.screendaily.com/red-dragon-breaks-oct-opening-record-with-375m/4010727.article|title=Red Dragon breaks Oct opening record with $37.5m |date=5 October 2002 |website=Screen Daily}}</ref> 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.<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo">{{cite web |title=Sweet Home Alabama (2002) |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sweethomealabama.htm |work=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=September 19, 2009 |archive-date=October 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091019092211/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sweethomealabama.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Home media===
''Sweet Home Alabama'' was released on [[VHS]] and [[DVD]] on February 4, 2003, it was released on Blu-ray on November 6, 2012, as part of its 10th anniversary.<ref>https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Home-Alabama-Anniversary-Blu-ray/dp/B008U19P2K</ref> It sold 2 million DVD copies on its first day of release,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hettrick |first=Scott |date=February 6, 2003 |title='Sweet' release on DVD |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |url=https://variety.com/2003/digital/features/sweet-release-on-dvd-1117880138/|access-date=May 20, 2023}}</ref> and sold 7.40 million copies earning a profit of over 128.7 million dollars.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2003/biz/news/year-end-2003-top-selling-titles-combined-vhs-and-dvd-626828/|title=Year End 2003 Top-selling titles (combined VHS and DVD)|work=Variety|date=December 30, 2003|access-date=June 8, 2024}}</ref>

===Awards and accolades===
{| class="wikitable"
! scope="col" style="width:35em;" | Association
! scope="col" style="width:35em;"| Category
! scope="col" style="width:16em;"| Recipient
! scope="col" style="width:1em;"| Result
! scope="col" | {{Abbr|Ref(s).|Reference(s)}}
|-
| [[BMI Film & Television Awards|BMI Film & Television Award]]
| [[Broadcast Music, Inc.|BMI Film Music Award]]
| [[George Fenton]]
| {{WON}}
|
|-
| [[GLAAD Media Award]]
| [[GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release|Outstanding Film — Wide Release]]
| ''Sweet Home Alabama''
| {{Nominated}}
|
|-
| Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award
| Best Contemporary Hair Styling — Feature
| Anne Morgan
| {{Nominated}}
|
|-
| [[MTV Movie & TV Awards|MTV Movie + TV Award]]
| [[MTV Movie Award for Best Actor in a Movie|Best Female Performance]]
| [[Reese Witherspoon]]
| {{Nominated}}
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |[[Teen Choice Awards|Teen Choice Award]]
| [[Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie – Comedy|Choice Movie – Comedy]]
| ''Sweet Home Alabama''
| {{WON}}
|<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=June 7, 2014 |title=2003 Teen Choice Winners Announced |url=https://www.hollywood.com/general/2003-teen-choice-winners-announced-57209288 |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=[[Hollywood.com]] |archive-date=March 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301164854/https://www.hollywood.com/general/2003-teen-choice-winners-announced-57209288 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| [[Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Comedy|Choice Movie Actress – Comedy]]
| [[Reese Witherspoon]]
| {{Nominated}}
|<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |date=June 18, 2003 |title=2003 Teen Choice Awards Nominees |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/70551/2003-teen-choice-awards-nominees |access-date=January 6, 2020 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |archive-date=November 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181121070427/https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/70551/2003-teen-choice-awards-nominees |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| [[Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain|Choice Movie Villain]]
| [[Candice Bergen]]
| {{Nominated}}
|<ref name=":1" />
|-
| Choice Movie Liplock
| [[Reese Witherspoon]] & [[Josh Lucas]]
| {{WON}}
|<ref name=":0" />
|}

==Soundtrack==
'''''Sweet Home Alabama (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)''''', the film soundtrack, includes thirteen songs by different artists.<ref name="Soundtrack">{{cite web|title=Various - Sweet Home Alabama (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on Apple Music|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/sweet-home-alabama-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1440917463|work=[[iTunes]]|date=January 2002|access-date=1 January 2002|archive-date=17 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517011433/https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sweet-home-alabama-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/252599600|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Track listing
| total_length = 48:51
| collapsed       =
| headline        =
| extra_column    = Performer(s)
| title1          = Sweet Home Alabama
| writer1         = Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, Edward King
| extra1          = [[Jewel (singer)|Jewel]]
| length1         = 3:43
| title2          = [[Mine All Mine (Tara Lyn Hart song)|Mine All Mine]]
| writer2         = Kristyn Osborn, Hollie Poole
| extra2          = [[SHeDAISY]]
| length2         = 3:55
| title3          = Falling Down
| writer3         = Avril Lavigne, David Alspach, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards
| extra3          = [[Avril Lavigne]]
| length3         = 3:54
| title4          = Gonna Make You Love Me
| writer4         = Ryan Adams
| extra4          = [[Ryan Adams]]
| length4         = 2:36
| title5          = To Think I Used to Love You ([[DJ Homicide]] Remix)
| writer5         = Uncle Kracker
| extra5          = [[Uncle Kracker]]
| length5         = 3:26
| title6          = Keep Your Hands to Yourself
| writer6         = Daniel J. Baird
| extra6          = [[The Calling (band)|The Calling]]
| length6         = 3:06
| title7          = Bring On the Day
| writer7         = Amy Powers, Jeffrey C.J. Vanston
| extra7          = [[Charlotte Martin]]
| length7         = 4:33
| title8          = [[Long Gone Lonesome Blues]]
| writer8         = Hank Williams
| extra8          = [[Sheryl Crow]]
| length8         = 2:55
| title9          = You Got Me
| writer9         = Jason Chain
| extra9          = Jason Chain
| length9         = 3:44
| title10         = Now That I Know
| writer10        = Eric Bazilian, Shannon McNally
| extra10         = [[Shannon McNally]]
| length10        = 4:44
| title11         = Marry Me
| writer11        = Dolly Parton
| extra11         = [[Dolly Parton]]
| length11        = 3:15
| title12         = Weekend Song
| writer12        = Matt Cantor, Pete Chill, Aston Harvey, Tenor Fly
| extra12         = [[Freestylers]]
| length12        = 3:58
| title13         = Felony Melanie - Sweet Home Alabama Suite (Score)
| writer13        = [[George Fenton]]
| extra13         = George Fenton
| length13        = 5:02
}}

==See also==
{{Portal|United States|Film}}
* ''[[The Judge (2014 film)|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 (United States)|Middle America]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Sweet Home Alabama}}
* {{IMDb title|0256415|Sweet Home Alabama}}

{{Andy Tennant}}
{{Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Comedy}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet Home Alabama (Film)}}
[[Category:2002 films]]
[[Category:2002 LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:2002 romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:2000s American films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Films about fashion designers]]
[[Category:Films about weddings in the United States]]
[[Category:Films directed by Andy Tennant]]
[[Category:Films produced by Neal H. Moritz]]
[[Category:Films scored by George Fenton]]
[[Category:Films set in Alabama]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films shot in Alabama]]
[[Category:Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York City]]
[[Category:Films shot in Rome, Georgia]]
[[Category:Original Film films]]
[[Category:Teen Choice Award winning films]]
[[Category:Touchstone Pictures films]]