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This gives her the idea to try to get the divorce by becoming the most annoying version of a wife he can imagine. But as the movie goes along, they discover that she should actually be with Jake instead, so by the end they are rooting for the answer to be “no.”Īct One Break: Act one ends and act two begins when Melanie learns she still has access to the joint checking account with Jake.
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At first, the audience is hoping that the answer to the question will be yes. The important thing, though, is that in the period between 12 minutes and 15 minutes into the movie, we establish the Main Tension: Will Melanie marry Andrew? We do an unusual thing with the tension. It’s risky not letting the audience in on the dilemma, but we did drop lots of hints that something’s amiss even if it’s not clear what that something is for a few more minutes. I think the catalyst is the proposal because we have character and dilemma. So one might argue that the proposal is the domino and the doorstep scene is the catalyst. Not as dramatic a reveal, I will admit, as the scene where Melanie appears on Jake’s doorstep and demands a divorce. To solve this, my original draft had Melanie tell her best friend she’s already married immediately after the proposal. However the audience does not yet know what the problem is. Is the catalyst the moment where Andrew proposes to Melanie in Tiffany & Co.? That’s the point where the character has the problem. It serves to set up the “lightning striking twice” theme, establish the romantic tone of the story and give a little foreshadow of the Alabama environment to come.ĭomino and Catalyst: A little tricky. There is a brief prologue with the young Melanie and Jake on the beach. I will also tell you the big structural flaw I think the movie has and why it seems to survive it. I will now analyze the three act structure of Sweet Home Alabama. The movie is a fantasy, of course, but Witherspoon has said that Melanie’s struggles actually mirror some of her own experiences as a Louisiana-born, Tennessee-raised actress trying to make it in Hollywood.Okay, time to put my money where my mouth is. The only solution is to return to Pigeon Creek and get the divorce finalized, but because this is a romantic comedy, that’s not how things between Melanie and Jake play out. The problem is that she’s already married - to Jake Perry (Lucas), the childhood sweetheart who was supposed to have divorced her years ago but never signed the papers. That plan seems to be working out for her until she gets engaged to Andrew Hennings ( Patrick Dempsey), the wealthy son of NYC’s mayor ( Candice Bergen). Witherspoon stars as Melanie Smooter, a New York City fashion designer who hides her Pigeon Creek, Alabama, origins by using the last name “Carmichael.” “Small-town girl moves to the big city and forgets her roots” is a plot so clichéd at this point that it shows up in about 90 percent of made-for-TV Christmas movies, but in Sweet Home Alabama, it just works. You can’t take the honky-tonk out of the girl! Sweet Home Alabama became a classic rom-com almost as soon as it hit theaters in 2002, thanks to the charm - and chemistry - of leads Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas.