Say what you will about Reese Witherspoon, but she’s certainly come a long way since her rom-com heyday. These days, she’s known for playing a broadcast journalist in “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+, for example, and for also remaining involved with Hello Sunshine — the media company she co-founded and turned into a home for female-led storytelling. Back in the early 2000s, though, she was cementing her box office stardom with romantic comedies, and one of the most memorable from that era, “Sweet Home Alabama,” has just returned to the spotlight.
The 2002 film is blowing up on Netflix right now, currently sitting at #7 on the Top 10 movies list in the U.S. As proof of how much fans still appreciate it, the movie carries a 78% Rotten Tomatoes audience score from more than 250,000 ratings. Critics, for what it’s worth, have been far less kind (as evidenced by the movie’s 38% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences have spoken: More than 20 years later, based on the fact that it’s trending once again, “Sweet Home Alabama” still holds up as a comfort-watch classic.
Sweet Home Alabama’s Netflix comeback
If you haven’t seen it in years, here’s a quick reminder of the (pretty basic) premise. Witherspoon plays Melanie Smooter, a New York fashion designer who left her Southern roots behind and reinvented herself. When her wealthy fiancé Andrew (Patrick Dempsey) proposes, Melanie rushes back to her “Sweet Home Alabama” to finalize her long-gestating divorce from Jake (“Yellowstone’s” Josh Lucas) — the high school sweetheart she married as a teenager. Add Candice Bergen as Andrew’s stern mother, plus a young Dakota Fanning as a childhood version of Melanie, and the result was a cast that made the whole thing a joy to watch for many viewers.
Story-wise, the movie sprinkles a healthy dose of Southern charm around a classic love triangle. Fun fact: The movie even scored a rare chance to film inside Tiffany & Co.’s flagship store in New York City. “Sweet Home Alabama” was an undeniable hit at the box office, bringing in more than $180 million worldwide. Now, thanks to Netflix’s Top 10 list, the movie is finding a second life with a new generation of viewers.
Netflix’s Top 10, as we’ve written about over and over again, always tells an interesting story about what people are in the mood for. Some weeks, it’s the latest blockbuster, while other weeks, it’s a movie you haven’t thought about in years (like “The 355” or “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”). For the moment, that movie is obviously Witherspoon’s homespun, early 2000s rom-com that’s a throwback to a bygone era in so many ways.
