\n<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t take the honky-tonk out of the girl! Sweet Home Alabama<\/em> became a classic rom-com<\/a> almost as soon as it hit theaters in 2002, thanks to the charm<\/a> \u2014 and chemistry \u2014 of leads Reese Witherspoon<\/strong><\/a> and Josh Lucas<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSmall-town girl moves to the big city and forgets her roots\u201d is a plot so clich\u00e9d at this point that it shows up in about 90 percent of made-for-TV Christmas movies, but in Sweet Home Alabama<\/em>, it just works<\/a>. Witherspoon stars as Melanie Smooter, a New York City fashion designer who hides her Pigeon Creek, Alabama, origins by using the last name \u201cCarmichael.\u201d<\/p>\n That plan seems to be working out for her until she gets engaged to Andrew Hennings (Patrick Dempsey<\/strong><\/a>), the wealthy son of NYC\u2019s mayor (Candice Bergen<\/strong><\/a>). The problem is that she\u2019s already married \u2014 to Jake Perry (Lucas), the childhood sweetheart who was supposed to have divorced her years ago but never signed the papers. The only solution is to return to Pigeon Creek and get the divorce finalized, but because this is a romantic comedy, that\u2019s not how things between Melanie and Jake play out.<\/p>\n The movie is a fantasy, of course, but Witherspoon has said that Melanie\u2019s struggles actually mirror some of her own<\/a> experiences as a Louisiana-born, Tennessee-raised actress trying to make it in Hollywood.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I read the script I was like, \u2018Do these people know my life story?\u2019\u201d she said during a Town Hall event in 2018. \u201cBecause no matter how much you love where you\u2019re from, when you get a little bit older, you get nostalgic for it. When I was 18, I was like, \u2018I am out of here! I am never coming back!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Oscar winner obviously had a change of heart, as she now shares a home in Nashville<\/a> with her husband, Jim Toth<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cWhen I was going through Sweet Home Alabama<\/em><\/a>, I was like, \u2018This is exactly how so many young people feel. You want to leave home and then you realize that there\u2019s so many important things about the closeness of family or people who knew you before,’\u201d she recalled in 2018. \u201cAnd I feel really like that movie really encapsulated those ideas. And it was a lot of fun. It was so much fun. I had a great time doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n