Surprisingly, divorce is a great topic for cheesy romantic comedies. If you have seen the romantic comedy, Sweet Home Alabama, you know that the movie is about an ex-Southern girl turned New York fashionista who must go back to her Southern roots in Alabama in order to get her Alabama divorce papers signed. According to the tomatometer at rotten tomatoes, it was a 37% smash while surprisingly 77% of viewers actually liked it. Well, the movie proceeds with a generic storyline of rekindling a fire from a past life–something that many people associate with hopeless romantic ideals. For those who haven’t seen the movie, let me break the movie down a little more.
Melanie Carmichael is New York’s newest upcoming designer. Luckily for her, she falls in love with the governor’s beautiful, rich, and charming son, Andrew Hennings. As the fairytale continues, he proposes and she says yes. The fairytale is put on hold, though, because Melanie must go back to her hometown to serve her husband with a set of Alabama divorce papers. Apparently, although Melanie left Alabama and started a new life, her old life decided stay in touch. The movie continues with a series of events in which Melanie is trying to deny her Southern roots and get her divorce papers signed so that she can leave. After she insults her town with her New York snooty attitude, Jake decides to sign the papers to make Melanie leave.
If you didn’t guess it already, just as Melanie is about to say “I do” to her Prince Charming, her attorney bursts through her wedding and tells Melanie that she hasn’t signed her part of the Alabama divorce papers. She realizes, then, that she’s still in love with her former flame and leaves Prince Charming for her Southern Cowboy. Fortunately for her, her current husband welcomes her with open arms and the two end up happily ever after. Although many of us wish for a potential divorce to be overturned by an old spark with a former flame, in reality, it doesn’t exactly work out that way. The feelings of divorce are usually associated with stress, anxiety, and unhappiness. However, thanks to the Internet, there are now professionals and resources everywhere to be able to make the divorce process easier.