I wanted to try and stay away from the ol' review cliquish
phrase of saying "The feel good film of the year", but you
can't help walking away from this film feeling good. It has sort of a
"Pretty Woman" meets "Stealing Magnolias" feel to
it. A simple love story, one may feel they might have seen before, yet
compelling enough to entertain you and keep you interested. Perhaps it
is simply the sweet charm of Reese
Witherspoon that has us here in the first place. Or the fact that
we all wish we had that special someone to share in that great story of ours
that was meant to be. Either way, the film is a refreshing breath of
air, and heaven forbid... nice!
In this romantic comedy, New York fashion designer Melanie Carmichael
(Reese Witherspoon) suddenly finds herself engaged to the city’s most eligible
bachelor Andrew (Patrick
Dempsey). But Melanie’s past holds many secrets, including Jake (Josh
Lucas), the redneck husband she married in high school, who refuses to divorce her. Bound and determined to end their contentious relationship once and for all, Melanie sneaks back home to Alabama to confront her past, only to discover that you can take the girl out of the South, but you can never take the South out of the girl.
But the reason I was there in the first place was,
of course, to check out Mary Lynn's
latest
film appearance. The character of "Dorthea" which
Mary Lynn plays,
may not get the biggest amount of screen time, but is as memorable as
"Blind Brenda" in "Road
Trip." Being one of the many familiar faces that Melanie has
tried to leave behind, Dorthea actually gives Melanie the upper edge by
informing her that she still has a joint account with her current husband
Jake. Which Melanie in turn uses to blackmail Jake and force him to
sign the divorce papers. Mary Lynn
appears a few more times in the film, once in a restaurant (for which she
has a great one liner), at a town bash where she hangs with her man (Courtney
Gains), and at the wedding and reception scenes. Her character has
a sweet country charm and she is pretty as can be, with her sweet smile and
flower patterned dress, which will surprise and please my fellow
Mary Lynn fans.
Over all I felt (Mary
Lynn fandom aside) the film has a pretty
simple story, with a few moments of spontaneous fun
carried mostly by the enticing Reese
Witherspoon. But it is a good date film with an ending sure to
help the romance of the night to linger longer. As a movie rating, I
guess I would give it a B.
On another note though, I was more than happy to
see Patrick Dempsey
on the big screen again, and hope that this will help him to be better
noticed, because I miss him and always love his work.
Other online reviews:
-IFILM-
-Delusions
of Adequacy-
-epinions-
-ROTTEN
TOMATOES-
-Visit the Official
Site-
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