Today's in-flight movie is "Sweet Home Alabama" - A Review by The Rhino -- Rhinotainment

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, [5] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 12:52:25 02/20/03 Thu
Author: The Rhino
Subject: Today's in-flight movie is "Sweet Home Alabama" - A Review by The Rhino

My beautiful fiancee, Emily, and I boarded an American Airlines flight to Las Vegas, Nevada. The excitement between us was enough to paint the wings of the giant bird purple. As we take our seats and get buckled in, I notice that there are small television screens that drop down from the underside of the overhead compartment. This can mean only one thing: in-flight movie!!!

In the pocket on the seat in front of me, there are a number of American Airlines magazines, including the dreaded SkyMall magazine (take your average everyday products as well as unique inventions and multiply the price by ten and you have SkyMall magazine). I find a magazine devoted to the in-flight entertainment. I curiously dig for info as to what I may be watching on this flight. There are four films that are in rotation this month: "Solaris", "The Truth About Charlie", "Die Another Day" and "Sweet Home Alabama".

I am hoping beyond all hopes that it will be "Solaris". I have yet to see the critically panned box-office disappointment by master filmmaker, Steven Soderbergh. I don't care what anyone says about the film, I want to see it and judge for myself. Besides, my current favorite celebrity, George Clooney, is in the flick, so it has that going for it.

Upon further inspection, it appears as if our winner might be "Sweet Home Alabama." I refuse to believe it until I hear it from our cranky flight attendant. Sure enough, the Reese Witherspoon epic chooses the shortest straw. What the hell, I will watch it. What else am I going to do for three hours?

"Sweet Home Alabama" is about a girl from, where else, Alabama, who moves to New York, becomes a fashion designer and gets engaged to the son (Patrick Dempsey) of the mayor (Candice Bergen). Things are looking bright and sparkly for young Melanie (Witherspoon), but there is a soemthing in her past that she needs to take care of before the wedding: divorcing her husband back in Alabama.

The husband, Jake (played by Josh Lucas), just so happens to be the first boy that Melanie ever kissed and they were childhood friends, high school sweethearts, match made in heaven, whatever...but Melanie had to get out of town. Since Jake was having trouble finding employment and getting some direction in life, Melanie decides to leave him behind and go on without him. She has fallen out of love with the loser and, instead of divorcing him, leaves him.

Melanie heads back to Alabama. She hasn't seen her parents in seven years, has broken off contact with all of her friends and pretty much buried every bit of her past in Alabama, but now has to confront it all in order to get her divorce. The town hosts a number of characters including Melanie's daddy (Fred Ward), who has a penchant for Civil War re-enactment, the closeted gay hillbilly (Ethan Embry), as well as the mulleted good-time drunks that love to play "Melanie Sandwich" by smashing the tiny Witherspoon between their oversized bellies. Hilarity ensues, as you would expect.

This movie sucked. How's that for a review? Poor acting, poor writing, poor jokes, and a damned poor attempt at a romantic comedy. The whole thing was formulaic and predictable, not to mention slow and plodding. I strongly recommend avoiding it.

Now, the soapbox. It's a damned shame that Reese Witherspoon has taken the easy route of making silly romantic comedies like this instead of sticking to the meaty roles she was serving up earlier in her career, like "Election" and "Freeway". This move is very reminiscent of the route Jennifer Lopez took after she made "U-Turn", "The Cell", and the magnificent "Out of Sight," all roles that made her look promising and tough. Now she's sticking to crappy pap like "Maid in Manhattan" and "The Wedding Planner." It's just sad.

So, what's next for Witherspoon? A sequel to "Legally Blonde." God help us all.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

That is next for Reese Witherspoon, isn't it? (NT) -- Silk, 17:53:04 02/21/03 Fri