Sleepy Sunday Cinema

 Welcome to the third sleepy Sunday Cinema, featuring Sweet Home Alabama, one of my favorite romantic comedies and second chance romances. The whole concept of going home again, even if only temporary, is one I love to play with in my own writing. In this case, Mel going home to get divorce papers signed after she was already engaged to another person, great setup, but the argument, and subsequent slapstick comedy of her first run-in with her husband when she goes to get her divorce papers signed, was seriously on point. I loved the whole slam the door, shade rolling up, yank the shade down, shade rolling up again, shade falling back down, shade giving him one hell of a time until he ended up wadding it up in frustration. That really set the tone for the comedy part of the movie. 

"If you two are still married it's her house too." -Small town sheriff (Sweet Home Alabama)

Trying to rat each other out to the cop, getting Mel locked up for dumping a tractor in a fish pond, the misadventures of a well-spent youth hurled back and forth with one another showed the chemistry that was still there. I don't think chemistry like that ever dies completely. 

Daddy in the old pickup coming to get her from jail, the look he and her mom gave one another, like oh boy, what did she do now, rather than holy shit shock that she wound up there in the first place, just helped establish who Mel was before she left home, and how much of herself she's tried to bury to fit into the New York City fashion world. 

See, now, this is why I'm not in a hurry to get back to Colorado.

Well, hi Bellamy, not sure this is the right movie for you, but okay. 

Meh, it appeals to the secret snob in me. 

Really? Now that I didn't know about you, you hide it well. 

Just never wanted my folks or my club to know that a part of me wishes I'd been born into a different lifestyle. 

You're always free to leave. In fact, isn't that how you got to North Carolina in the first place.

A mistake I can't regret, seeing as how it's landed me Wreck and Cody. Damn, she fucked around and redecorated his whole house, holy shit. 

I know, right, but it almost got his name on the paper.

Don't know if I could handle the way they try to outdo one another when it came to being damned irritating. I'd lose my shit trying to deal with that. 

See, now I love it. I get the feeling it's the sort of thing Wreck's into too. Look at the way he is with Cody, pretty sure that's a big part of the dance they've been doing these past few years. 

Then I'll leave that to them. There are far more interesting dances I'd rather being doing with them both. 

Speaking of dances...

"No dancing on the table with spurs." - Sign in the bar (Sweet Home Alabama)

You know someone had to pull that shit for there to be a sign about it. 

What I want to know is what kind of dance they were doing to warrant that, and how little clothing was involved. Then I was to see if Cody can duplicate it, preferably on the pool table in the rec room. 

You guys scratch up that table and Mark might reupholster it with your hides. 

I believe the proper term is refelting. 

You're right, you do have snobbish tendencies. 

Just wait until you see me order at the bar. 

Guess it's a good thing you spend the bulk of your time behind it. 

There is some truth to that. 

"People need a passport to come down here." -Mel (Sweet Home Alabama)

You know that turning point in a movie, where the characters start to see each other in a different light, that's where it feels like the tone of it moves from comedy to romance. 

It's that way in life too. I was all set to walk away from Cody when it hit me that I'd be missing out on something amazing if I did. Even when he was being an utter and complete brat, there was this appeal, this fire that challenged me to allow myself to get burned. 

Isn't that how love is supposed to be?

"The girl I knew used to be fearless." -Jake (Sweet Home Alabama)

Once upon a time, I was fearless too. 

What happened?

Wish I knew. 

I feel ya. I used to think I was untouchable. Talk about a kick in the nuts, driving fifteen hundred miles for a catfish. Ya know, everyone needs a grandpa like the one firing off those anvils, holy shit, that was pretty epic. I think I'd shit myself if I accidentally wandered into the middle of the target zone like Mel did though. 

You and me both. 

The past hits us all a little differently. The places we've been get colored by the place we are and the places we want to go. The ocean doesn't make my love of the mountains any dimmer, but it does give me a better perspective of how big the world is and how small we are in comparison. Loss colors things too. Age. A kiss can change the shade of everything, but the same can be said for a punch in the mouth. 

"You are just like your father, one minute you're brilliant, controlled, steadfast, the next you're throwing it all away on some young piece of ass." -Fiance's mom (Sweet Home Alabama)

Reminds me of my uncle. There's not a god damned thing he can't do with an engine, but he's on wife number seven, two of them Vegas weddings, Elvis impersonator for the official and everything. 

That's a bit much, I guess, I mean, if it works for him, then more power to him. Who are we to judge. 

Personally, I think he's in love with the lightning, rather than the whole storm. Me, I love the way the clouds gather and blot out the sun. The roll of the thunder, lazy sometimes, like morning sex, wild others, when you can't even wait to get the door closed before your ripping someone's clothes off. I'd love to know if it's a real thing, the glass when the lightning hits the sand, because that is something to cherish, something solid, something only nature can create. Something like....Cody. 

I couldn't have said it better, Bellamy. Guess this movie really did speak to you after all. 

Yeah, I guess it did. 

Claiming Cody, the follow up to Burning Luck, coming April 2022 from Encompass Ink.