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Sweet Home Alabama
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Hey Y'all! Emma & Katie dive back into their Southern childhoods a bit in this regrettable 00's romcom about a pretty bad person and a nice boy who deserves better, maybe two. We also talk about video games, George Wallace, Lynyrd Skynyrd, share some Tiffany's anecdotes, have a return to the Lynskey/Lynynskey dichotomy, and get out in under an hour so Emma can make her train!
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Transcript
Early Morning Routines and Gaming Preferences
00:00:00
Speaker
with the Here we are on this beautiful Wednesday. how are you, Katie? Oh, I thought you were going to say the whatever you said, Huff Day. the true Oh, Day!
00:00:15
Speaker
It's too early for a Huff Day. okay. It's too early. Emma has forced Katie to do this early in the morning so that Emma can get to the city for her matinee of ragtime.
00:00:28
Speaker
the city of it's not that early that's true it's like normal time yeah i don't have to set an alarm if i have to wake up you know let's start to wake up before like 7 a.m m so are you serious yeah no i just wake up it's it's a curse really i'm so sorry i don't get anything done in the morning it's not like i'm productive i should be i should like you know yeah i could like work out i could like do lots of things but no instead i yeah i sit in bed for like an hour and do my little little puzzle games and such oh i love that yeah yeah did you did you do a fun puzzle game this morning of course i do my i do wordle and connections every morning i do there's a movie puzzle game that i play there's like four different puzzles on that every day and then there's my like little pub trivia game that i play every day oh fun oh that's really fun what an exciting life i lead You live such an exciting life. Did you just say I don't like games?
00:01:30
Speaker
Yes.
00:01:33
Speaker
I like board games. You don't like games at all? i don't like I don't like online games. They make me mad. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't have games on my phone. These are all, like, this is this is all they do. I don't, like, have, like, you know, like, when my nephews would ask, like, you have games on your phone?
00:01:51
Speaker
No, I don't. I don't have a single game on my phone. No. But, you know, the little word thing, the things that come up every day that's on their websites. That's what I do, yeah.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. No, I just... like video games and stuff. We've talked about that before. Yeah, and I don't. I really don't. Charlie's sad about it, but it's fine.
00:02:13
Speaker
You didn't even get into Animal Crossing during the pandemic like everybody? No. That's surprising. you have to You have to press so many buttons. So many buttons. That's too many buttons. Like, i like The Sims computer. That's ah on my very funny reason why.
00:02:29
Speaker
have to push... You look down at your hands, too. like, you to push so many Buttons? So many buttons! Who's got the time to push buttons? I just don't understand why i can't like I don't know, like maybe it comes from growing up playing The Sims on my computer and being able to do like a lot more Uh-huh, uh-huh But like, I just don't like the fact that you're like limited to like She's making little little think crab claws with her hands Like, come i don't I don't know, there's something about a controller that I hate
00:03:02
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. um But you have played, you got into The Sims, like in high yeah school, I'm guessing. Oh, yeah, yeah, I got into The Sims. I love The Sims. Sims is great. Sims is great. But also, like. You make all your friends and make them fall in love and divorce and get abducted by aliens. It's the best. Exactly. it's It's the best. And I will say there is one video game that I enjoyed, but you can play it on your phone.
00:03:25
Speaker
And it's, ah it's not much of a game. It's just, um it's a Walking Dead game. And it's a lot of just home using choosing your adventure. Wait, is it is it the is it the Walking Dead game? Like the the the famous one from like 2010 or whatever?
00:03:41
Speaker
I don't think so. It's like, it's not- With Clementine? Yeah, with Clementine! Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I liked that a lot. that was on That was on everything. Yeah. i didn't I didn't realize they put it on phones. But yeah, the Telltale Walking Dead game. Yeah, that's a great game. Yeah.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was great. It was great. I really enjoyed that. um It was a lot of just choose your own adventure. So that was mostly why. You know they made about like 20 other games, right? That company that are all the same.
00:04:06
Speaker
Yeah, but like once I did it, I was like, I'm tired. They made like a Batman one. They made a ton of them. Yeah. yeah one Yeah. A bunch of those. Yeah. Nah. I mean,
00:04:17
Speaker
Why? Why when I did it?
00:04:24
Speaker
What are talking about today, Emma? Anyways, ah exciting lives. Famously featured in today's film.
Introducing the Podcast and Sweet Home Alabama
00:04:32
Speaker
That's right, guys. You guessed it. ah This is Go Get Your Girl. This is the podcast where Emma and Katie are just one conjoined twin fashion designer in New York City with their lives just...
00:04:46
Speaker
Perfect on paper and everything's fantastic. And their fiance, who is the son of the mayor of New York City, proposes to them in a very elaborate proposal at Tiffany's. And we're like, oh, my God, yes. And then we realize, oh crap. Wait, I'm already married. I have to go back home to my house.
00:05:09
Speaker
podunk town in Alabama, to which I've been lying to everybody about my real um my real background. Emma and Katie are a bad person. That's the first sentence of the synopsis. Yeah, we're a bad person um and have not been truthful to anybody. And so we go back and we're trying to get a divorce from our ex-husband,
00:05:28
Speaker
who was our first love, and he won't sign the papers. And then we fall back in love with this podunk little town and the Alabama way of life while listening to Sweet Home Alabama 10,000 times. um it's It's only two times, um but we'll get there.
00:05:49
Speaker
ah And ah along the way, we realized, boy, we don't want our New York City fast-paced life. We'd much rather go with Alabama. So we ruined our very expensive, fancy wedding.
00:06:04
Speaker
Still going. and And yeah, and that's right. I'm Emma. And I'm Katie. And today we are talking about, of course, if you hadn't guessed from the synopsis, Sweet Home Alabama, the 2002 rom-com. Directed by Andy Tennant. This is our third Tennant.
00:06:24
Speaker
<unk> by andy tenant this is our third tenant i He directed Hitch and Ever After. oh And he we they will not be our last tenant because he also, of course, directed it Takes Two.
00:06:40
Speaker
Ah, yes. And that will absolutely be something we watch. Yes. Yes, it will. um So it was um written. So this is kind of ah an interesting like production. i mean, this happens a lot, actually, but a lot of times it's not quite as transparent.
00:06:55
Speaker
There was, um oh, now I've forgotten her name. don't care. I don't care. i care A producer um pitched this movie. it was like, hey, i need you to make me a movie about um a woman going back to her hometown in Alabama to you know break up with her husband that she hadn't divorced so she can get married again.
00:07:21
Speaker
A logline, basically, was set to... um Apparently two different people. So first of all, we have Douglas J. Ebok, who has a story credit on this and nothing else really. There's a few, there's like three things that no one's ever heard of.
00:07:35
Speaker
um And then we have the screenplay by CJ Cox, um who has written also almost nothing. A couple of, he's got a few more credits than the other guy. He's got a couple of like,
00:07:46
Speaker
Hallmark or maybe even sub Hallmark movies. um The only other screenplay it's not even 9am. The other screenplay he has credit for is New in Town with re oh oh with ah not with um Renee
00:08:07
Speaker
Which, for whatever reason, has um an almost identical poster to this movie. And a very similar plot, but like, it's like, big city girl goes to small town.
00:08:19
Speaker
It's Minnesota, yeah, in in that. and that the but But both of the the posters of this are a a tiny blonde woman sitting on a bunch of luggage, and the luggage is Louis Vuitton in both cases. Jesus Christ. I mean, if it's not broke, why fix it? I mean, well, it is broke, which we'll get into. um That, of course, is Renee Seliger and a Harry Connick Jr., so we'll talk about it eventually. Ah, yes.
00:08:47
Speaker
um ah Yes, so this movie begins with some really terrible CGI ah day for night shots on a beach in probably in Los Angeles, but in the case of this, well, i guess there's a coast in Georgia. So this movie was shot in Georgia, not Alabama, and and obviously shot in New York, um which is, you know, a little unusual, especially for this time. I guess it's because they had a ton of money to make this movie because rom-coms were still popular then. Yes, yeah. But it is, it is shot on location in New York and Rome, Georgia, which is the where the tiny Berry College is, which one of an old friend of mine went
Production Insights and Trivia
00:09:32
Speaker
to Berry College, just why I recognized it. Well, there you go. Also, this is the first of Emma's Fun Facts, Emma's Fun Facts. um And I'm sure this won't be the last movie to claim this because it's definitely not the first. But um according to IMDb, this was the first film to shoot in New York City after September 11th attack in the World Trade Center.
00:09:55
Speaker
This isn't even the first time we've had that trivia on this show. know! Because i believe it's two weeks notice, which also yeah makes that claim. Yeah, exactly. I don't know who was the first film to shoot.
00:10:09
Speaker
Were they shooting at the same time? It's certainly possible. But also like two weeks notice was filmed entirely in New York. And this movie had I mean, it's not second unit, but it's definitely like just a couple of days in New York. Yeah, exactly. It's like Tiffany's Lincoln Center.
00:10:26
Speaker
Goodbye. Yes, yes. And Soho. It looks like Soho. It doesn't really say, but my guess is Soho, yeah. Yeah. So, yes, and we've got these two little kids on the beach, one of whom is Dakota Fanning because it was 2002. Dakota Fanning! And every movie was legally obligated to cast Dakota Fanning in a child's role. it was. Yes, it was.
00:10:48
Speaker
And they are, they're making, um or no, they're not intending to make beach class, but they're on the beach and it's lightning. Yep. And um they're like, you know, little kids with crushes on each other. And yeah she's like, why do you want to marry me? He's like, so I can kiss you anytime I want to.
00:11:06
Speaker
And um they kiss and they get struck by lightning. Yep. And we never hear about it again. Nope. Nope. Like, did they die and all of this is ah is a post-death
Plot and Character Analysis
00:11:20
Speaker
dream? could be.
00:11:22
Speaker
A la Jacob's Ladder? it could be. Spoilers for Jacob's Ladder, sorry. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. The movie came out 35 years ago. i don't want to hear it. It could be.
00:11:33
Speaker
and But no, never brought up again. Much like the beginning of The Sixth Sense. It's just one of those things where it's just yeah skip over it. yeahp um like I know what they were going for, which is like this is a metaphor for their love is electric. But like don't yeah actually light them on lightning. Wait, and hit them with lightning. Don't light them on lightning. But the, like, they are by far not the highest thing around. So there's no reason why lightning would would strike them. It doesn't make any sense. But it makes beach glass, um which is like a recurring theme theme in the movie, which is like, they treat it, it's like a myth that lightning striking sand creates glass. But that's that's just common knowledge. Like people are like, oh, that's not true. Like,
00:12:17
Speaker
Well, of course it is. What are you talking about? and Yeah, it's it's a thing. It's not an urban legend. The thing that's disappointing about this film is that the beach glass that they use as ah evidence of beach glass um isn't actually beach glass. It hand-blown by a man in Vermont. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense.
00:12:40
Speaker
um So we fast forward to, um you know, 20 years or so ah to new york new york city and yeah reese witherspoon has a little flower choker and a fuck ass bob because it's 2002 because it's 2002 uh she is now a uh clothing designer and it's um it's downtown fashion week new york fashion week if you will well it says that but it's at like washington square park is that where fashion week is surely not right
00:13:13
Speaker
Actually, I no idea where Fashion Week is. I would assume Fashion Week would be like Midtown, but I guess I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. It's wherever they can i just have so many models. It's not at the Garment District. Why wouldn't it be in the Garment District? It'd be so easy. It would be so easy. um The reason why is because the Garment District is right next to Times Square and nobody wants to go there.
00:13:36
Speaker
They don't want to fuck around down there? Yeah. um ah So, Yes. It's fashion week. It's very 2002. Aggressively aggressively so. The shit these people are wearing. um She is, of course, dating Patrick Dempsey, a two-year pre-Grey's Anatomy Patrick Dempsey, um who looks like you could take his hair off in one plastic piece. like Yes. a like ah Like some kind of doll. um Yep.
00:14:09
Speaker
yep yep mean he looks good he's hot like don't get me wrong patrick dimpson is hexett patrick dimpsy is dreamy but um he is dreamy and but unlike james marston in the notebook he's not unbelievably perfect in every way i mean here's the thing i i do he's not unbelievably perfect in every way he is in in some ways he's a better written character than james marston in the notebook yeah But he also does nothing wrong in this movie. I mean, i he doesn't, but like there's like hints of it, of like a little bit of him forcing this engagement to happen so that he can get back at his mom.
00:14:48
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like... like He keeps bringing up the fact that he's just like, did you see my mom's face? Did you see my mom's face? Do you see how fabulous? That's true. That's true. you see how much how much I shock my mom?
00:15:00
Speaker
I have a weird thing about my mom. He does have a weird... Well, his mom is the mayor of New York. Candice Bergen. Candice Bergen. um And so, yes, ah look quick ages here. Reese Witherspoon is 26. Patrick Dempsey is 36. And Josh Lucas is 31.
00:15:17
Speaker
um But they are playing the same age. My guess is that Reese Witherspoon is supposed to be at closer to 30 in this movie. Yeah. Yeah. Because the amount of time that's supposed to have passed. Yeah. Because she had to get married, decide she didn't want to be married, leave Alabama, establish herself as a, um, oh, I guess go to fashion school and go to Parsons. Yeah. Yeah. Establish herself as a, you know, an apprentice to this like famous designer and who then like on the first season of project runway.
00:15:49
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. Like it takes time for all these things to happen. It doesn't just happen overnight. Yeah. Christian Siriano doesn't exist in this universe, so she won. It's a different gay best friend.
00:16:02
Speaker
She talks Christian Siriano out of un auditioning for Project One Way, and she takes his spot and wins. And she wins. um Anyway, ah so she gets the an elaborate proposal, which kind of rules, where they take her secretly through the back so she doesn't know where she is. into fucking tiffany's yes and they like put up all the lights and like there's just so and then it's all actual story employees um this is actually based on and a proposal from the filmmaker's wife who of course it is she said she was proposed to and said no to this guy shit that he took her to tiffany's and she said no took her tiffany's she said no but it's just like what every little 2002 girl dreams of what their proposal will be like one day which is their fiance takes them to Tiffany's after hours proposes to them and then says pick one
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah. Has, you know, the worst one. $25,000 to spend on an engagement ring. Right? No budget. It's, um yeah, it's not, I mean, I guess it was like, i can't even remember it is. It's like Emerald Cut, right? and Yeah, it's Emerald Cut Silver, which is like not the clip classic Tiffany's band. It is not.
00:17:22
Speaker
Yes. I would assume if you're going to get Tiffany's to be a sponsor, well, not a sponsor, but like heavily featured in a film, You would want them. sure it was sponsored by Tiffany's. Yeah, I would highly doubt, you know, right promotional, ah paid promotion from Tiffany's. Yeah. Right.
00:17:40
Speaker
Why is it not like a classic engagement ring? Because it was probably a promotion from 2002, like a new thing they were doing. Like, it was probably like, you know, they had the magazine ads in, you know, Cosmo and Vogue and stuff that was like Hadris Witherspoon wearing the the ring and it was like,
00:17:57
Speaker
gro you know you know the sweet home Alabama the Alabama cut they would never do that actually the Alabama cut from Tiffany's have you been to Tiffany's before on 5th Avenue I haven't been to that Tiffany's I went to Tiffany's in Houston at the Galleria have walked past that Tiffany's their Christmas decor is phenomenal they make it look like just one giant Tiffany's box it's really cute Oh yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, so I did. When I was living in New York, my friend Chandler, shout out Chandler.
00:18:35
Speaker
Chandler! ah Came to visit slash sort of live with me for a while. We wrote a musical together at the time. It was it was a good time. Love it. She was living on my couch. And um yeah, she got a job at the Old Navy in Times Square.
00:18:49
Speaker
Working in logistics. So she was in charge of like the trucks coming in to like in the middle of the night in Times Square, like directing traffic and stuff. What ah what a crazy job.
00:19:01
Speaker
um But yeah, we went to Tiffany's to look for engagement rings and we were like, oh all of these are way too expensive way too expensive live i mean i want to go because you there's now a tea room on the like top floor i want to go have tea but i also want to walk past while eating a pastry and drinking a coffee um listening to uh moon river of course classic like every basic bitch but like you know we went in there and they weren't mean to us or anything they they like you know They let us in, which is I was slightly concerned about at the time. Because yout you have to buzz in. yeah
00:19:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah. um Charlie had a different encounter at Tiffany's. um He went to Tiffany's at at in somewhere in the suburbs of Chicago with our friends around my 30th birthday. Probably Schomburg.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah. And he, because he wanted to get me a surprise, beautiful piece of jewelry for my 30th birthday. Mm-hmm. And so the box is what's important, really. Like, it doesn't matter what's inside. Right. It's the box. So he goes to Tiffany's and the suburban Chicago Tiffany's were terrible to him. They were so mean. You think it's because he was British?
00:20:15
Speaker
I guess. But also, like, that was a joke. Oh, But it was awesome because he was like a 20-something guy walking in and this guy can't afford Tiffany. Yeah. Was he wearing an inner Shikari football ah yeah jersey or whatever? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. he was dressed like Charles. And... um And so then he goes to a different jewelry store and he got me some beautiful um diamond studs for my 30th birthday. And he was like, I was so tempted. he was with our friend Sarah. And he was like, I was so tempted to go back to Tiffany's with my bag and go big mistake. Cute. huge
00:21:02
Speaker
uh um ah incredible charlie uh we don't give you a lot of credit on this show but um but the great move great we love that great move yeah right right good job did not expect charlie to reference a rom-com right oh he loves pretty woman um yeah that's a good movie yeah uh yes so um patrick dempsey candace bergen is the mayor of new york and a bitch Yep. and she is, you know, just, just, you know, wants to run her son's life and doesn't approve of Reese Witherspoon, obviously. And um so that's all going on. Yeah.
00:21:38
Speaker
And then suddenly we cut to Greenville, Alabama, which is a real place. It's a suburb of Montgomery. um We should say ah for the rest, just so you know that this comes from a place of love. I'm from the South. I'm from Tennessee slash North Carolina.
00:21:53
Speaker
And I lived in Texas. Yes, yes. Texas! It's kind of South, but still South. Yeah. Still the South. One thing about this movie is the score i found offensive.
00:22:09
Speaker
First of all... Do little banjos? I think the score is bad, first of all. Like, it's just just poorly done. And secondly, it's like, it's all... Like orchestral stuff with like banjo in the middle of it. It's like, yeah what are you, what are what are you doing? Like, this is so condescending. Why don't you wang why don't you go fuck yourself? I had to give an Alabama twang. George Fenton, the composer of this movie.
00:22:33
Speaker
Goodness. um So we go and meet Josh Lucas, who I would have sworn on a Bible was Josh Duhamel before I watched this movie. Um... In fact, I was even talking about it to ah to Peyton. Shout out Peyton, who cuts my hair.
00:22:50
Speaker
um And we were both talking about Josh Duhamel because I was about to watch this movie and we had a whole conversation about like, what's Josh Duhamel doing nowadays? He used to be in everything. But it's not Josh Lucas. Yeah.
00:23:01
Speaker
It is Josh Lucas, who is different than Josh Duhamel. Ever so slightly. Probably cuter than Josh Duhamel, actually, at least in 2002, in my recollection. like yeah He's got those eyes, like as you would say, blue. Too blue. like big too blue Yeah, they're too blue.
00:23:18
Speaker
They are kind of scary looking. Yeah. Yeah. yeah But Josh Lucas, who, where is he now? He was Yellowstone, like many actors. Any actor who was popular 20 years ago and you're like, what are they doing now? They're on the most popular television show in the world, which no one under 70 watches. That's where they are. They're all on one of those. There's about 20 them. They're all on Yellowstone.
00:23:43
Speaker
There's about, there well, there's about 20 Yellowstones, but in addition to Yellowstone, there's a whole bunch of one-hour crime dramas on CBS that no one under 40 has even heard of. Yep.
00:23:54
Speaker
Yep, yep, yep. They're on that. But Josh Lucas was on Yellowstone, ah specifically.
Cultural Critiques and Soundtrack
00:24:03
Speaker
um She and so she's getting She needs a divorce from him She has papers that she needs him to sign And um I'm Sent to him several times but every single time He sends back Which is not how divorce papers work. Listen, again, I went to the Good Wife University. I know, ah I have a law degree. um It's lawyer Katie Coleman.
00:24:25
Speaker
That's right. um ah Katie Coleman Esquire, if you will. Yeah. maybe if if If someone refuses to sign the divorce papers, you you simply you you can it becomes a contested divorce yeah and they get served with a subpoena that to to come to court like that's all that that's what happens and i guess like in the world this movie like she doesn't want to do that is the idea but that's crazy yeah like she's seen this man in seven years you need to just get she would have just gotten it done i i but also i have a question about like the legal point of it so like her lawyer that she keeps talking about the beginning She's like, I spend so much money on this lawyer. It's so much per hour. blah, blah, blah, blah. blah And you sent these back. It cost me so much money. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then it's just um cut to she got a lawyer in Alabama.
00:25:17
Speaker
yeah And he's like this old, like Southern gentleman that nobody would have to know. He would have to be in New York. He would have to be an Alabama lawyer because that's where that's where you have she has to get divorced. She has to get divorced ok in Alabama because that's that's the residence, right?
00:25:32
Speaker
The way that she was phrasing it. It was very confusing. I mean, Alabama lawyers are still expensive. Despite what this movie wants you to believe, the South is not a a it's not a different country. It's not a a shithole where everyone is a racist idiot, which is what this movie yeah tries to... Many, many, many ah Confederate flag throw pillows in this film.
00:25:59
Speaker
Yeah, and and flags, and straight-up Confederate flags. like and Okay, so Civil War reenactment is a real thing. um ah They definitely really do that. But they play both sides. They do play both sides. Obviously, somebody somebody has to be ah the Union as well.
00:26:15
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. They bust the Union in from Pennsylvania. That's what they do. they they They're all equity. ah They're all equity actors. It's...
00:26:27
Speaker
it's It is a weird thing that they do, and it is bad, we'll say. You shouldn't dress up in Confederate uniforms and pretend to fight a battle. I understand that there is some educational you know component to that, like that the battlefield, you know they have they reenact it to show you know history. It's like a living history theater project or whatever. yeah but the people who do it that's not why they're doing it let's be honest you know for every three you know college history professors that do that there's you know 200 rednecks who are doing it so they can fly the the confederate flag yeah and try and bring back glory glory to the staff
00:27:13
Speaker
There's a lot of that. There's a lot of the South will rise again. ah Talk in this movie. It's a real problem. Yeah. um I mean, the wedding is at a plantation. Yeah. Which is a big old problem. Yeah. And I mean, they even say they were like, oh, um ah I can't remember who says it, but they were like a plantation. It's just like basically like um a mansion, but or it's like a big house. But it's a farm is what they call it. Oh, it's a farm. But plantation, it sure does roll off the tongue better.
00:27:42
Speaker
Yeah. um So yeah, we got her friends. ah So let's talk about some of her friends. We've got, she goes back in town. She hasn't seen any of these people in seven years. She just left and broke contact with everyone. She doesn't have a Facebook account, although honestly it's 2002. So Facebook doesn't even exist. It doesn't exist. Yeah. What a time.
00:27:59
Speaker
What a time. um She kept contact with her parents, but like loosely she, she barely visit them. She would send them plane tickets to come visit her and they would straight up refuse.
00:28:10
Speaker
Yes, which again is like, i don't know, it's all very condescending. It's like, we're not going to New York City. um We have Mary Kay Place and Fred Ward as her parents. Yep.
00:28:22
Speaker
And Ethan Embry as her gay best friend, who's- Love him. We love Ethan Embry. He's closeted in this movie, but my guess is that everybody kind of knows anyway. Yeah. Because she outs him, she gets drunk and outs him, which- What a horrible thing to do to somebody. Horrible person. And in the worst way. is In a worst bar in Alabama. yeah In the stupidest way too, though. Her way of outing her gay best friend is, why don't you go to a gay bar? I'm like, Jesus.
00:28:59
Speaker
You couldn't come up with anything wittier? She's, ah well, she's drunk and mean. um ah She is a, so yeah, the other thing about her is they call her Felony Melanie. Yep. um ah Which is, it's clever. um She got into, she was a hell raiser. She got into a lot of trouble. She blew up the bank when she was 10 years old, which yeah pretty good story, actually.
00:29:23
Speaker
So the story goes that there was this cat that the vet said had cancer, but apparently didn't. Yep. And was going to euthanize.
00:29:33
Speaker
And um the Melanie thought the gas chamber was too cruel. And they're like, you know where they put him in that room and the and the vacuum sucks their lungs out? i'm like, no. What?
00:29:44
Speaker
No, don't know about that. What are you talking about? don't know um ah i Who knows if that's real or not. But it is, you know, maybe maybe in in Alabama, they just, you know, whatever. um A lot of this movie is making fun of Southern people. um Yes.
00:30:00
Speaker
And so she decides to tie dynamite to the cat ah to blow it up, which would ah be more humane, she decides. But the cat gets loose and runs into the bank and blows up the bank. And they say nobody was hurt, but the security guard is hurt because we see him earlier. Yep.
00:30:20
Speaker
Yeah. And he, they say, she even asks, how's his leg? So. nao Melanie Melanie Leninsky. Melanie Linsky, who you can't say. Linsky.
00:30:32
Speaker
Linsky? Every time. Linsky. It's just Linsky. Melanie Linsky. We've had this conversation on this show multiple times. And the thing is, is I love her. I think she's a fan-fucking-tastic actress.
00:30:44
Speaker
Yeah. um She is, yeah. And so she's there. She's one of the friends. She's had a bunch of babies. we've got... um Jean Smart, the great Jean Smart, plays Josh Lucas's mom. We love her.
00:30:58
Speaker
We have Mary Lynn Reiskub is another who's a comedian who's been in everything. She was on 24 at the time of this, actually. But mostly she does comedy. She's like a Groundlings or maybe UCB person. So she's, yeah, she's somebody's wife, isn't she? Oh, she's the sheriff's wife. And she works at the bank.
00:31:20
Speaker
bay yeah she Yeah, she works at the bank. Yeah. um And they play Keep Your Hands to Yourself by someone who is not the Georgia Satellites. Now, I didn't look this up, but my guess is this soundtrack, because again, it was 2002, so the soundtrack was a big part of the the movie. used to the When the movie came out, the soundtrack would be like you know like a be a big marketing push for it. They'd go on ah TRL to promote the soundtrack. it was all They don't do that anymore. um you know i suppose i suppose the charlie xcx weathering height soundtrack is sort of like that yeah um and the barbie soundtrack was like that but there's not that many examples of of movies marketing their soundtrack at all um anymore but it used to be a huge thing in the early 2000s and through the 90s and presumably into the 80s as well yeah because like prince did the batman soundtrack and that was a big deal yeah um
00:32:14
Speaker
So um my guess is, and I didn't look this up, is that these are all classic Southern rock and country songs that they decided to get covered by popular artists of 2002. They used to do that a lot, where it would be like covers of of of songs that would be more appropriate, but they cover them so it's a little bit cheaper, and also it's artists that people would recognize and want to buy. Exactly. and It's somebody who sucks covering Keep Your Hands to Yourself, which is a great Southern rock song from the 80s by the Georgia Satellites. Come at me. Lifehouse or whoever is singing this. Lifehouse.
00:32:52
Speaker
now i have to know here you talk about something i'll look up who the so we're in our melanie linenski has a baby and she goes and recently melanie linsky has a baby and reese witherspoon goes you have a baby in a bar and she has this like oh god it's so condescending to the judgmental yeah it's so judgmental and she's like yeah well this one's still on the tit so i can bring him anywhere um Heavens.
00:33:20
Speaker
It's like, goodness. Oh my God. What? ah Keep Your Hands to Yourself is by The Calling. Do you remember The Calling? No. um They sang Wherever You Will Go. again no. high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go. Oh, shit. Yeah.
00:33:43
Speaker
It kind of became Fiefer Fighting there for a second, but that's what it sounds like.
00:33:49
Speaker
I'm scared to fly.
00:33:53
Speaker
But yeah, so it's exactly what I thought. It's a bunch of country songs covered by shitty people. Not shitty. Yeah, so Long Gone Lonesome Blues, which is a famous Hank Williams song, is covered by Sheryl Crow. What I wrote in my notes is a...
00:34:11
Speaker
what did I say? A ah terrorist attack on the song Sweet Home Alabama that they play over the credits is by none other than Jewel. Oh my God. it is awful. Yeah.
00:34:24
Speaker
Yeah. But yeah, we've got Uncle Cracker on here. We've got Ryan Adams, which is an original song and Dolly Parton, which is original song. they but They get a pass. But yeah, that's what happens. mean, it's exactly what you thought.
00:34:39
Speaker
Yeah. um Ryan Adams, as we talked about last last last week on Katie's love of canceled people and and things, I was the biggest Ryan Adams fan in the world. I've seen Ryan Adams play live over a dozen times. um i Ryan Adams was absolutely my favorite artist when I was in high school. And yeah, this has got a great song by Ryan Adams on it. So sorry. Absolutely insane. Absolutely insane.
00:35:04
Speaker
um Anyways. So yeah, she gets drunk. She makes everybody mad by like insulting everyone because she's a terrible person. And ah um she's really bad. She sucks a lot. Yeah.
00:35:15
Speaker
she sucks a lot and then she um gets into a fight with um her ex who's there on a date a and yeah and then he takes her home and um she wakes up the next day and she feels real shitty about everything that she did but as she should she's hung over yeah and then she makes an apology to her Yeah, she makes an apology tour.
00:35:41
Speaker
One of such is she goes to the plantation house to apologize to Bobby Ray. Ethan Embry. Ethan Embry. And ah you discover that the plantation house is his grandfather's house and his grandfather...
00:36:01
Speaker
just either really loves civil war history or has dementia and loves blowing things up loves blowing things up he's firing anvils out of a cannon which yeah seems like the most dangerous thing you could do so insane oh so insane My guess is there was just this visual image of a yard littered with anvils, half buried in the dirt, like ah like a Daffy Duck cartoon. And that's what they wanted to do, which is, it's it looks pretty good, actually. It looks cool. yes Yeah, yeah, exactly. And as she's leaving, um this guy comes up and he goes, hi, I'm from um the New York Post and I'm doing a story on you.
00:36:40
Speaker
It's Kevin Sussman, character actor who plays a weird nerd and everything, um who we, the the audience already knows is Candace Bergen's like chief of staff. He's not really a reporter for the New York Post. Exactly. He's posing as a reporter.
00:36:54
Speaker
This is the address, this plantation house, which is on the campus of Berry College. I think it's an academic building on Berry College. Yes. um that um she has told everyone is her house. Like she said that she grew up in Greenville, which she did not. She grew up in Pigeon Creek. Yep. um in ah In a trailer. um As one of the wealthiest families in Greenville, Alabama. And she claims her last name is Carmichael, which is Bobby Ray's last name is my guess, right? Bobby Ray's last name.
00:37:23
Speaker
Her last name is Smoot. smoother actually which again if you could be racist against southern people seems like a seems like a racist thing against southern people but you can't you can't be racist against other people but you can be um ah condescending and uh and an asshole yes yeah exactly and And so he comes and she has to like quickly be like, okay, you can look inside, but very quickly. And Bobby Ray comes out and she like suddenly gives him like the heads up of like, hey, this is what's happening. And he goes, oh yes, I'm her cousin. Here we are.
00:37:58
Speaker
And um then they see grandpa and he's nuts and they feel like they've gotten away with it ever so slightly. Yes. And he drives away he's what happens after that uh she goes to the pigeon creek catfish festival oh yeah the creek catfish festival it's like and i guess you know i don't know it's just a lot of this just seems really eye-rolly and cringe um like yeah it's a it's a town they have like
00:38:31
Speaker
like, nice places in Alabama. I promise you. I've been there. um Not in 2002. And they also seem to be, like, simultaneously on the coast and in Montgomery, which Montgomery, Alabama is not on the coast. Um...
00:38:50
Speaker
I was trying to see how far Montgomery, Alabama is from the coast. It's, um you know, a long ways, is hundreds of miles from the coast of Alabama. Montgomery is like right in the center of Alabama, but they're on the beach. I guess it could be a river it doesn't look like a river it's the goddamn ocean it looks like the ocean i think they are going off of the fact that they bet that 99 of americans have never been to alabama and never will go yes yes yes uh i had a helvetica played at auburn university um so i went alabama to uh to see it and i've been to alabama before i have we have made a family in alabama i was gonna say did you do um like a little sweet home alabama tour
00:39:32
Speaker
um We did a little tour of um of Montgomery um with the the guy who who directed the play. He took me on a little on a little tour. yeah Oh, cute. like not But not really, go yeah. But Montgomery is a cool town. like it's like ah It's a real city. um It's a modern place. the um the The Civil Rights Museum is there in Montgomery, which we didn't have time to go to, but apparently it's very cool because I can i was only there for like 48 hours. yeah yeah Went to a really nice restaurant that was like right on the river. It was cool. Oh, nice. Nice.
00:40:09
Speaker
Well, back to the Catfish Festival. Sure, Catfish Festival. So at the Catfish Festival, basically all that happens is she she sees all of her friends and she dances a little dance with her ex to sweet home alabama well she doesn't dance with him is the thing like she doesn't he tries to get her to dance but she she backs off yeah uh and this is a cover um by some not horrible band uh doing a cover of sweet home alabama they don't actually play the actual song sweet home alabama um in the uh in the movie they play two different covers of it yeah yeah exactly But this one is more traditional. This one doesn't suck like the Jewel version. Quick thing about Sweet Home Alabama. Do you know what Sweet home Alabama is actually about?
00:40:59
Speaker
Alabama? It is. It is about... um It is not about Vietnam. It's about Watergate and George Wallace. So George Wallace, famously like the most racist ah governor in this in the in the sixty s and seventy s um Was the governor of Alabama. um He ran for president and got shot and paralyzed in the 70s, I want to say. But he was famous. like He was the guy standing in front of the school stopping black kids from from integrating things. He was just like the the poster child for the racist South in the 60s, mostly.
00:41:37
Speaker
He actually like apologized and like hired a bunch of a bunch of black um cabinet members and stuff later on in his career and like like you know became like a um you know a better person before he died but you know mostly he's known as being the the racist governor of Alabama and so the song is about you know all of you people who like the people in Alabama don't
00:42:08
Speaker
like we we don't we're we're not george wallace like just because george wallace is the governor of alabama being from alabama doesn't make us racist assholes any more than being from america makes you a bunch of crooks because nixon is your president so like who are you people who don't live in alabama to look down on us for george wallace being our governor when nixon is your president that is what the song sweet home alabama is about Oh, well, there you go.
00:42:37
Speaker
Yeah. There you go. That's nice. um Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, anyways, back to the movie. hu So then. It's one of the more relevant digressions we've ever had. and It is. And it's actually a very fun fact. I just had no follow ups because I was so shocked by the facts.
00:42:57
Speaker
Thank you. I did a plane crash. So there you go. Oh, Jesus. ah Lynyrd Skynyrd. And so then you see here her, what's his name? Josh, not Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas, sitting on top of oh a water ah water tank, water... Tower. Water tower, A water tower with all of his buddies, because that's what you do in Alabama after Catfish Festival, and he watches Reese Witherspoon, and you see, you know, he's still
Character Relationships and Film Critique
00:43:29
Speaker
feels. Yeah.
00:43:31
Speaker
They make a reference to Bobby Ray being gay, which, like, I guess they're accepting of him, which is nice. Which is nice. Which also leads me to believe that maybe everybody already knew. Yeah. Which would be the only case in which he could ever forgive her, really. You know what I mean?
00:43:47
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. So we want to be generous about this screenplay. It's something that everyone knew and everybody was fine with. And she just made an ass of herself by bringing, like, by saying it out loud. you know Exactly. It's also 2002. And I will tell you, like, they don't like gay people in the South so much. Yeah.
00:44:07
Speaker
Generally, lots of places are, I mean, my hometown is actually ah very famously a a kind of gay haven in the in the South. But um there are, it's, you know, some things about the trip the South are true. Like, a lot of places are pretty racist and they don't like ah queer people very much. Yeah. Especially in 2002. I mean, as nobody in America, like, nobody in the world, like, gay people very much in 2002, if we're honest, but. Yeah. Which, it wasn't a good time for gays. No. It wasn't a good time for anyone. Yeah. um As evidenced by the America's Next Top Model documentary. Yeah.
00:44:45
Speaker
um everybody's watching it and i haven't watched it oh it's great it's great um i'm good anyways uh so then basically what happens is um what's his name from new york decides that he's gonna come down listen i'm so sorry but she goes to co she goes to the coon dog cemetery me and she talks to her their dead dog the dog that i mean i guess it was joshua's dog but Bear, named after Bear Bryant, they are the coach of University of Alabama football. um And the other dog is, of course, Bryant, named after Bear Bryant, the coach of University of Alabama football.
00:45:22
Speaker
And she has this really, like, beautiful monologue where she says the phrase, everything went pear-shaped, which is famously a British expression. And I just don't, I don't i never see her.
00:45:34
Speaker
You've never heard going pear-shaped? No, I've never heard before. Oh, yeah. Charlie will tell you. Yeah, it's a it's a British expression. Oh. It just just doesn't seem like something she would say. But she has this whole like kind of conversation about him and where she like, you know, apologizes to it for abandoning him and she abandoned this town because that is the primary conflict of this. Like she's embarrassed of where she's from and who she is and nobody else is really. I mean, that's the thing about Patrick Dempsey.
00:46:02
Speaker
Like it would have been so easy for Patrick Dempsey's character to condescend and look down on her and the town and he really doesn't. No, he's just mad that she lied to him. That's the main thing. Yes, which reasonable. Which is so reasonable. Because when he comes down to the South to be like, hey, how's it going? I miss you. wanted to surprise you. And she's like, whoa, what? And then comes out that she's not who she says she is. He gets all mad and he's offended, but not because the fact that she's not
00:46:37
Speaker
Rich. It's not because she's from a trailer and her last name is Smooter. It's because she lied. Yeah. And she's ashamed of herself. Yeah, exactly. And where she's from, which sucks. Exactly. Exactly. And so, like, and I mean, like, he tries to make it all work because, like, he... yeah you know, it's just sort of like still wants to marry her. he goes and meets her family. um and you know, is very like cordial and nice and lovely and wonderful. And, um, whatever he's just like, you know, they're talking about the wedding. She goes, she realizes that her parents will go anywhere if it's not in Alabama. And so like, she's just like, well, maybe we'll have the wedding here. And he drops everything to make that happen.
00:47:20
Speaker
Yes. and He's like, absolutely. Yeah. And when also they want to be away from the press. So I think this is part of the thing about like embarrassing his mom. Like if he was that dedicated to embarrassing his mom, wouldn't he want the press to be there to embarrass her? That's true. That's true. But it's like- He does love her. Yeah. I think. Yeah. He does. He does love her. I think some of his, like, motivations in the beginning are are driven a little bit by the fact that he, you know, wants to stick it to his mom. But I don't think it's he's in this relationship completely because of that. I think that he does genuinely love her. Yeah. yeah
00:47:57
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, he calls her when her the review from her... ah Runway show comes out and he's just like so excited for her and he's just like very supportive and happy and yeah. He's a really good boyfriend and fiance and yeah you know it's really sad for him. Yeah. It's really sad for him because. So what also happened. Yeah. I'm sorry. oh So what also happens after the Catfish Festival that we have to back up a little bit, she yeah she meets with Josh Lucas again, and they have this whole like scene together where he you know they talk about she got pregnant, and that's why they got married, and then she had a miscarriage. yeah
00:48:33
Speaker
And he's like, you know I looked at your pregnancy as being like this big adventure, but then I realized that it might be your only adventure, which is like... All right, that's kind of that's kind of woke, Josh Lucas. Good for you. Look at you. Look at you.
00:48:48
Speaker
He's got this whole thing where he's like, you know, he she finds out he went to New York like as soon as she moved there to try to find her. And then we we see, like, we get the impression that he saw that she was doing good. And then he came back and decided that he had to make something of himself to be worthy of her, which is bullshit. Like, yeah such, like, eye-rolling nonsense. And he's like, but I had to...
00:49:10
Speaker
And he tells that to her before. And there's this other bit where she sees this glass and she's like, deep south glass. This is so pretty. I need to find out about that. And everyone is like, Oh, don't tell her. Yep. He's got this like secret from her that he, instead of being this drunk, like loser, which he was previously, he's started this company of really beautiful handmade glass and,
00:49:34
Speaker
Which she doesn't discover until she comes back for the wedding with Patrick Dempsey. And he keeps it a secret from her for plot reasons, I guess. Yeah, it makes no sense. Like, he just doesn't, he's not ready to tell her. And then she discovers it when she comes back with her friends from New York and they go and she's like, oh, this is the place that I was telling guys about. And it's this beautiful, like, store slash restaurant slash, like,
00:49:57
Speaker
it's full It's designed a little bit like Tiffany's from the beginning, like the way that it's shot, at least, with the windows in the front and it like yeah looking down and the way that it's subdivided. To me, I think that's like an art director thing where it's like, I'm going to make it look a little bit like Tiffany's. It's like Alabama Tiffany's.
00:50:14
Speaker
um and you know and she's just like why didn't you tell me ah like this is amazing what you've done um and then we have the wedding um which is done at the plantation patrick patrick dibsey forgives her um he runs into her dad and they her dad gives him some kind of speech that we don't see And he comes back and that's when they decide to have the wedding because originally when he comes there, he gets mad at her and storms off. But yeah. Yeah.
00:50:42
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. um and so then we have the wedding and she's getting ready, but like she's nervous and she's not like really feeling everything. um she's in a poorly fitted dress. Um, yeah.
00:50:56
Speaker
She's in what? A poorly fitted dress that does not alter to her shape. or Especially for a fashion designer. Yeah. Right. It's terrible. um And so she she's like super nervous. Her mom is like trying to give her a pep top of like, you know, you're just really nervous. Like he's going to give you the life that you want. Like you this is this is everything that you want.
00:51:19
Speaker
So just, you know. go on with it and so she's walking down the aisle and yeah like in in between like toward in the last third of this movie there's been this elder southern gentleman who keeps trying to find her yeah and everyone thinks that he's depressed yeah exactly and he's like well i gotta find uh gotta find melanie carmichael uh get out of here you old pervert um yep candace bergen comes down there um ah they uh she meets with their with her parents like um it's it's all but and again she's not the worst person in the world like she's normal to her parents even though their parents are not normal exactly um and then we have uh gene smart giving the go get your girl speech to her son josh lucas yeah um
00:52:14
Speaker
But ah but he doesn't he doesn't crash the wedding, but the the little man does. Yeah. tells Who is her lawyer. And even though Josh Lucas signed the divorce papers 47 minutes into the movie, she forgot to sign. She forgot to sign. Because her heart didn't want to. Or whatever.
00:52:33
Speaker
And so he's like, you just have to sign and then you can go get married. And so as she's walking down the aisle, she has to sign her divorce papers. She's like, anybody got a pen? No. like Love that. Right.
00:52:45
Speaker
ah And which she is from Nashville and Josh Lucas is from um I looked it up. He is from Kentucky or something like that. So they both are actually Southern, we should say. Yeah.
00:52:57
Speaker
There you go. But like she can't sign the papers because she still loves Josh Lucas. And so she like. i don't know why. Yeah. I don't know why either. So she turns to um Patrick Dempsey and she's like, I can't. I can't do this. um I'm so sorry. And then Candace Bergen goes off on this like very offensive speech on her screaming of. She's not. Yeah. She's not 100% wrong. um Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:24
Speaker
hurt yeah but the The woman left her son at the altar. She's mad about it. She's mad about it. yeah i mean, Patrick Dempsey's taking it a little bit better than his mom. He takes it very well. He's the best. He's like, yeah, I do. I understand. And she's like, are you being like this about it? And he's like, yeah, I guess I am. yeah He's like, oh, so this is what this feels like. It's like, what a what a man. ah Patrick Dempsey's character, who presumably has a name in this movie. Which none of us can remember.
00:53:52
Speaker
um doesn't matter and so one thing real quick he shows up at uh at the plantation house looking for her and josh lucas is there and they're like meeting each other not knowing who the other one is and he goes oh are you here for but he goes are you here for bobby ray yeah you're for bobby ray and then bobby ray comes to the door and like gives patrick dempsey the up and down which like fair hey reasonable um And so, so yeah, so then she runs off and she finds josh Lucas and they're on the beach and she. He's setting up lightning rods on the beach yeah because he's getting he gets his glass from lightning strikes, which is how much must he be charging for this glass? That is insane way of getting glass. That's. crazy that's absolutely insane there are better modes of getting glass yeah um yeah anyways and so she's just like um you know you're still married to me and then they have this little heart to heart and then it starts to rain and it starts rain at the wedding and then she's like everybody stay i'm gonna go find me a groom yeah everybody laughs
00:54:58
Speaker
and so she runs up to him and they have their little heart to heart and they still love each other and then they care he says she says um she says well what were you waiting for he says i needed to make something of myself and she goes you about done i'm like yeah yeah pretty good you're the first first boy i ever kissed and i want you to be the last and he says why do you want to marry me she says so i can kiss you anytime i want like that oh beginning yep And then they play Ryan Adams, um make you love me more, which is a great song.
00:55:28
Speaker
um And then because they're the only two gay characters in the movie, um her her fashion designer friend and Bobby Ray have to like make eyes at each other yeah because again, it was legally required. It was 2002. Yep.
00:55:41
Speaker
yep And the reception is at the bar that Josh Lucas's mom runs and she goes, play something slow. Yeah. And they play the worst cover of Sweet Home Alabama that you've ever heard. An offensive cover of Sweet Home Alabama by fucking Jewel.
00:55:58
Speaker
yeah Yep. And that's the movie! and we get the the little And the cat is somehow still alive. Yep. Beats the fake. we get We get some like slideshows where apparently he moves to New York, which I do like. I do like that yeah he goes with her for her life. And then they open up a Deep South glass in what appears to be Soho, which makes sense because my guess is this glass is extremely expensive. Yeah, and very nice.
00:56:25
Speaker
um and that's the movie that's the movie it's not very good it made me mad mostly yeah it was offensive in a lot of ways there's so many confederate flags in this movie like you can't underestimate flags how many confederate army uniforms and flags are in this movie we forgot to mention that her dad is is a reenactor and she has to go to the battlefield to find him yeah it's all um the whole thing problem Nobody should watch this movie.
Conclusion and Future Episodes
00:56:51
Speaker
You can listen to this episode instead of watching the movie. We just summarized it in under an hour. Under an hour, baby. Anyways, next week. for us in general. What are we watching next week, Emma? Next week, we are watching the French Audrey Tateau film, Priceless. It is something in French.
00:57:07
Speaker
um i have always I've never heard of this movie. It's about ah she. We'll find out. I've never seen it, but I've always wanted to watch it. Okay, she's got to make a train. Yeah, all right. Shall we outro? Thank you listening to Go Get Your Girl. If you'd like us your friends, then please rate and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. It helps out a lot. We really appreciate it.
00:57:26
Speaker
Thanks to Andrew Milliken and Nick Spamoda for our theme music and Elena Henderson for our artwork. You can follow us on Instagram at gogetyourgirl.com or email us at gogetyourgirlpod at gmail.com. You can follow me on social media at Emily M. Pizza. And just me. Until next time, we're just two girls. Standing in front internet.
00:57:40
Speaker
Asking us to love us. To love us. Good night. Good night.
00:58:03
Speaker
And bands like Leonard Skinner attempted to show another side of the South, one that certainly exists, but few saw beyond the rebel flag. And this applies not only to their critics and detractors, but also from their fans and followers.
00:58:18
Speaker
So for while, when Neil Young would come to town, he'd get death threats down in Alabama.
00:58:26
Speaker
Ironically, in 1971, after a particularly racially charged campaign, Wallace began backpedaling, and he opened up Alabama politics to minorities at a rate faster than most northern states or the federal government.
00:58:42
Speaker
Wallace spent the rest of his life trying to explain away his racist past. And in 1982, he won his last term in office with over 90% of the black vote. Such is the duality of the Southern thing.
00:58:52
Speaker
And George Wallace died back in 98 and he's in hell now. Not because he's a racist...
00:59:22
Speaker
and he became a pawn in the fight against the civil rights cause. Fortunately for him, the of black america and he became a pawn in the
00:59:41
Speaker
fortunately for him the