Sweet Home Alabama [Blu-ray]

Director: Andrew Tennant, Andy Tennant Andrew Tennant

Overview

After establishing herself as a bankable star with the fish out of water comedy Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon returns in what could be described as a "fish back in water" comedy. Melanie Carmichael (Witherspoon) is a successful New York fashion designer who is dating Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey), a wealthy socialite whose mother, Katherine Hennings (Candice Bergen), is the Big Apple's mayor. One day, Andrew pops the big question and asks Melanie to marry him; Melanie is overjoyed, but unknown to Andrew, Melanie has some unfinished business to take care of first. Despite her polished uptown image, Melanie grew up poor in the deep South, and as a teenager she married her high school sweetheart Jake Perry (Josh Lucas). Things went sour and Melanie moved East, reinventing herself along the way, but Jake never bothered to legally end their marriage. Now Melanie has to return to her hometown of Pigeon Creek, AL, to tell her parents (Fred Ward and Mary Kay Place) the news and convince Jake to grant her a divorce; however, the more time she spends with her old flame, the more she feels sparks flying between them again, while she also learns her Eastern affectations don't fly with everyone back home.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/06/2012
UPC:	0786936824582
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Touchstone / Disney
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:49:00
Sales rank:	13,703

Special Features

"Off The Cutting Room Floor" - 8 deleted scenes with introduction by director Andy Tennant Alternate ending with commentary Director's audio commentary SHeDAISY's "Mine All Mine" music video

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Reese Witherspoon	Melanie
Patrick Dempsey	Andrew
Candice Bergen	Katherine
Mary Kay Place	Pearl
Fred Ward	Earl
Jean Smart	Stella
Ethan Embry	Bobby Ray
Melanie Lynskey	Lurlynn
Courtney Gains	Wade
Mary Lynn Rajskub	Dorothea
Rhona Mitra	Tabatha
Nathan Lee Graham	Frederick
Sean Bridgers	Eldon
Fleet Cooper	Clinton
Kevin Sussman	Barry
Thomas Curtis	Young Jake
Dakota Fanning	Young Melanie
Mark Skinner	Bruno
Michelle Krusiec	Pan
Phil Cater	Pablo
Michael Snow	Devin
Bob Penny	Wallace Buford
Mark Matkevich	Tom Darovsic
Lee Roy Giles	Eugene the Guard
Afemo Omilami	Jimmy Lee
Kevin Hagan	Jimmy the Driver
Dennis Ryan	Reporter
Jim O'Connor	Reporter
Leslie Hendrix	Reporter
Tony Rizzoli	Gentleman
Bob Seel	Bartender
Kelsey Lowenthal	Carrie Lee
Jen Apgar	Starr
Sarah Baker	Dix
Deborah Calloway Duke	Sherma
Ted Manson	Colonel Murphy
Sharon Blackwood	Virgie
Suzi Bass	Shirleen
Don Young	Old Dead Soldier
Jody Thompson	Dead Soldier
Mark Oliver	Guard No.2
Deide Deionne	Press Secretary
Doug Johnson-Killen	Catfish Festival Dancer
Emily Furman	Catfish Festival Dancer
Pete Talton	Catfish Festival Dancer
Osjha Anderson	Catfish Festival Singer
Kelli Franklin	Catfish Festival Singer
Keni Thomas	Catfish Festival Singer
Jeanne Arnold	Catfish Festival Singer
Charlotte Pierrepont	Model
Traci Ann Wolfe	Model
Jana Lynn Schoep	Model
Eddy Donno	Model
Josh Lucas	Jake
Ambre Lake	Wedding Coordinator
George Fenton	Composer

Technical Credits

C. Jay Cox

Douglas J. Eboch

Andy Tennant	Director
C. Jay Cox	Screenwriter
Mat Beck	Special Effects
Juel Bestrop	Casting
Stokely Chaffin	Producer
Kathleen Chopin	Casting
Eddy Donno	Stunts
David Fletcher	Special Effects
Michael Fottrell	Executive Producer
Jon Jashni	Executive Producer
Jeanne McCarthy	Casting
Wink Mordaunt	Executive Producer
Neal H. Moritz	Producer,Executive Producer
Lonnie Smith	Stunts
Scott Dale	Stunts
David A. Arnold	Sound Effects
Douglas J. Eboch	Screenwriter
Bob Beemer	Sound Effects
James Ashwill	Sound Effects
Freddy Chancellor	Sound Effects
John T. Cucci	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Who ever said that you can’t go home again? If you have a cell phone, a Saab convertible, and the innate charm of Reese Witherspoon, you can go anywhere you like. Such is the case with Melanie Carmichael (Witherspoon), who seems to have it all -- she’s a famous fashion designer living in Manhattan with chic friends and a doting beau (Patrick Dempsey), whose mom (Candice Bergen) happens to be the mayor. We soon learn, however, that Melanie has a little too much -- namely a husband (Josh Lucas), who has refused to grant her a divorce. So she decides to fly back home to Pigeon Creek, Alabama, to get the papers signed before the Big Apple learns of her big secret. If movies have taught us anything, it’s that once people leave the cynical, soul-stealing Sodom-and-Gomorrah that is the big city, it's only a matter of time before they reembrace the goodness of small-town America. So during Melanie's attempt to get her ex to set her free, it's no shock that she reexamines her feelings for both the world and the man she left behind. Sure, southern stereotypes keep popping up: a dad (Fred Ward) who spends weekends as a Civil War reenactor and a ma (Mary Kay Place) who makes "the best preserves in three counties." But director Andy Tennant (Fools Rush In), manages to skirt them by keeping the plot moving. Not surprisingly, this is Witherspoon’s showcase, and she glows with the mix of comedic chops and tough exterior that enlivened both Election and Legally Blonde. Supplemental features include deleted scenes and an alternate ending.

Barnes & Noble - Peter Marchand

After a string of edgy and often deliberately unsympathetic performances in such films as Freeway, American Psycho, and Election, Reese Witherspoon was probably as surprised as anyone that America was ready to let her become its latest sweetheart. But after the runaway success of Legally Blonde, the budding superstar stuck to safe, fairy-tale material with this mostly winning romantic comedy. Populated by lovable eccentrics and plain but good folks, Sweet Home Alabama's Pigeon Creek is indistinguishable from any number of other sanitized, fictional Southern towns. But Witherspoon, with her kewpie countenance and iron spine, differs just enough from the conventional leading lady to remove the aftertaste from the saccharine material. Taking her cues from the conniving Julia Roberts school of heroines rather than the blander Meg Ryan variety, she drinks, cusses, and condescends her way to a perverse likability. The more she resembles a Jerry Springer guest, the more the audience cheers her on. The film's reassuring "I'm okay, you're okay" geographic relativism may not play well to self-satisfied Manhattanites, but it sure goes down well everywhere else. Heartthrobs Ethan Embry, Patrick Dempsey, and Joshua Lucas provide the requisite broad-based sex appeal, while everyone from Candice Bergen and Jean Smart to Mary Kay Place supplies laughs and lovable stereotypes. Jewel chimes in with the inevitable Lynyrd Skynyrd cover, and boom -- something safe for everyone, like all the best blockbusters.

All Movie Guide - Brian J. Dillard

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.

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert