By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The new Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama" attracted moviegoers like bees to honey this weekend, setting a new record for a September opening at the North American box office, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.

Despite mixed reviews from critics, some of them deriding the film as predictable and filled with Southern cliches, Witherspoon and her movie demonstrated wide audience appeal, grossing $37.5 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period.

That surpassed the previous September opening record of $33 million clinched by Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in their 1998 action comedy "Rush Hour." It also more than doubled ticket sales for Chan's latest film, "The Tuxedo," this weekend's only other wide release at the North American box office.

"Any time you can set a record, you always feel extremely good, and it shows the strength of a movie starring Reese Witherspoon," said Chuck Viane, president of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, a unit of Walt Disney Co. , which released the film on about 3,000 screens.

"We got a broad audience, with people ranging (in age) from 12 to about 80 going to see it. It plays across all ages," he said.

The strong debut of "Sweet Home Alabama" came just as Witherspoon, 26, signed up for the sequel to last summer's surprise hit comedy, "Legally Blonde," for a reported $15 million, propelling her into the league of Hollywood's highest paid female stars.

In "Alabama," Witherspoon captivated audiences as a successful New York fashion designer torn between a rich fiancee played by Patrick Dempsey and her secret redneck husband played by Josh Lucas.

Opening at No. 2 this weekend was "The Tuxedo," starring Chan as an amiable chauffeur caught up in high-level espionage with Jennifer Love Hewitt. The film, released by DreamWorks SKG, grossed an estimated $15.1 million in its first three days.

"The fact that 'Rush Hour' held the record for so long is a testament to how tough it is to have a $30 million-plus opening in September," said Paul Dergerabedian, president of box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. "Right now, Reese Witherspoon has definitely proven her star power. Moviegoers just love to see Reese."

The two new releases ended the two-week reign at the top of the box office of "Barbershop," the low-budget, $20 million film starring Ice Cube from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. .

"Barbershop," slipped to No. 3 in its third weekend with $10.1 million, followed by the hit romantic comedy "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" at No. 4 with $9.8 million.

The cumulative total for "Wedding," starring Nia Vardalos as a Greek-American who marries a WASP played by John Corbett, rose to $137 million, just $3 million short of the most successful indie film in history, the 1999 thriller "The Blair Witch Project."

"The Banger Sisters," starring Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon, slipped from No. 2 to No. 5 with $5.4 million for the weekend, followed by the romantic period epic "The Four Feathers," starring Hawn's daughter, Kate Hudson, which ranked sixth, grossing $3.6 million.

The Robin Williams drama "One Hour Photo" fell one place to No. 7 with $3 million, followed by Warner Bros.' action thriller "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever," starring Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas as dueling spies, at No. 8 with $2.7 million. Warner Bros. is a unit of AOL Time Warner.

Rounding out the top 10 were the Mel Gibson-starring thriller "Signs" at No. 9 with $2.3 million, bringing its cumulative receipts to $221.1 million. "Swimfan" came in tenth place with $1.5 million.

Receipts for the weekend's top 12 films totaled $94 million, up 37.1 percent from last weekend and up 46.7 percent from the same weekend a year ago, Exhibitor Relations said.

Reuters/Variety

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the September 27-29 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

1. Sweet Home Alabama .......... $35,648,740

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $35,648,740

2. The Tuxedo .......... $15,051,028

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $15,051,028

3. Barbershop .......... $10,007,996

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $51,312,650

4. My Big Fat Greek Wedding .......... $9,434,602

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $136,628,662

5. The Banger Sisters .......... $5,426,857

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $18,821,609

6. The Four Feathers .......... $3,556,687

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $12,377,402

7. One Hour Photo .......... $3,021,854

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $26,107,156

8. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Severs .......... $2,738,311

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $11,589,220

9. Signs .......... $2,363,791

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $221,155,028

10. Swimfan .......... $1,554,112

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $26,676,405

Reuters/Variety

John L.: The era of the Fading Utensil is upon us as Reese Witherspoon has finally arrived and is the ruler of the world.  Her "Sweet Home Alabama" has the best box office opening of any romantic comedy as well as any movie that is headlined by a woman.  Quite impressive for an actress who very few heard of 2 years ago.  Jackie Chan continues the trend of him being in a successful movie when he is teamed up with an American actor while his solo Hong Kong re-releases rarely do well.  Jennifer Love Hewitt is no Chris Tucker, and thank goodness for that.  Tuxedo has an interesting premise but it's reviews have been a bit weak.  The box office is coming back after a pretty calm September.

SWEET HOME ALABAMA - FULL REVIEW

The South has risen again as this love affair with all things Confederate set new box office records. Reese Witherspoon has taken the great responses she received from Legally Blonde and has now become that very rare animal, the actor/actress whose name alone can bring people into a movie theater even if the source material is not that interesting.  Witherspoon has been touted as being a great actress for years, especially with her performance in "Election."  But it takes quite a while for actors to make it mainstream, and after a wide audience was exposed to her somewhat odd charms, she was paid five million dollars to be the sole focus of the advertising for a sort of fish leaves the water to be on dry land and goes back to water where things are better story.  Reese plays Melanie "Carmichael" Smooter who has left her small Alabama town and become a high class New York fashion designer.  For the last seven years she has made it her lot in life to put her past behind her including her accent and forget that she ever came from a town with less people than 3 blocks of the Big Apple.  After a successful runway show of her new clothing line, she gets whisked away to the back entrance of a jewelry store where her boyfriend, Andrew, played by a very John Kennedy Jr. esque Patrick  "Can't Buy Me Love" Dempsey, proposes marriage.  Andrew is the Mayor's son who is defying his snobbish mother portrayed by Candice "Miss Congeiality was fun so let's keep playing that same character" Bergen.  Melanie has a fancy bio that impresses the high society, but it is obvious to the Mayor that Mel does not know what side the forks are supposed to be on at the dinner table.  Since Melanie wants fit in, and may even really really like Andrew, she accepts the proposal. The catch is that she is still married to her childhood sweetheart, Jake (Josh Lucas). Uh oh, that could be a problem outside of Utah.  And there you have the main plot. Melanie has to get that divorce or she won't have everything she things she wants.  Mel goes down South and finds out Josh is not in favor of divorcing his one true love right away. So, we get several scenes of Mel re-assimilating herself in her hometown meeting old friends including her estranged parents as she waits for Josh to sign those papers.  Sweet Home Alabama is a harmless little movie that is really helped by the earnestness of Witherspoon.  Without her, the movie probably would not have been made.  She is in almost every scene the ones she is not in, she is talked about.  Rednekck stereotypes of country music, pick-up trucks, bars, pool tables, fairs, and the very PC Civil War re-enactments are all there.  This is Southern Utopia where everyone is friendly to each other and the only thing that does not exist is deep south racisim that dramas love to show all of the time.  It was amazing to see the few blacks in the movie fully integrated with the whites and not protesting any of the many pro Confederacy and anti Yankee comments.  The Southern Utopia is also stretched a bit when a popular citizen's sexuality  is outed in the middle of a redneck bar, but no one seemed to care.  The liberalism revolt has arrived to Alabama I guess.  George Wallace is probably rolling in his grave.  No one gives a bad performance unless you find it disturbing that the actor who made being a high school nerd in the 80s cool  is now playing the handsome, debonair, heir to a political dynasty.  Patrick Dempsey's hair and hunched over JFK jr. walk was a bit upsetting to look at as well as Bergen throwing in her Jackie O. from hell impersonation.  Their characters are needed, but their characterization was disturbing to look at.  Other than some minor annoyances, there is a lot to really like about this movie as its predictable storyline plays out well and was not meant to be anything more than a Witherspoon vehicle and for the most part good family entertainment.  Some critics say that the Southerners are made to look stupid and backward, such as the baby in a bar and not having Automatic Teller Machines, but that is just for comedy.  They are not supposed to represent the real South seriously, but it does show that being in a nice small Alabama town can be fun.  If taken seriously, one would think that the Yankee Northerners are the jerks.  They are the ones who should protest.  The movie is not as funny as it thinks it is, but as the movie goes on you settle into relating to the characters and you wait for Witherspoon and Lucas to finally realize the truth about how they really feel about each other.  Formula filmmaking all the way, but it is done well.  After this movie, it looks like Witherspoon will now be the name people use when they ask "who will be the next Reese Witherspoon?"  Julia Roberts, eat your heart out.  Final Review:  3 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; B; thumbs up. 

THE TUXEDO - FULL REVIEW

Ever wonder how James Bond is able to ski any mountain, drive any car, climb any mountain, beat any foe in hand to hand combat, shoot any gun, and have sex with any woman. It's all about the clothes baby.  Notice how Bond is usually wearing some form of a tuxedo or fancy suit when he goes into battle.  Without the proper look, he would be dead in 2 seconds.  That idea seems to be the spark for the interesting premise presented in the newest Americanized Jackie Chan opus, "The Tuxedo."  Jason Isaacs of "Patriot" fame plays super agent Clark Devlin who hires Jimmy Tong (Chan) to be his limo driver.  One day Devlin is critically injured and hands Jimmy the secret to his "power," the tuxedo.  The tuxedo bonds to its human wearer and gives them super strength,  talent, and charm.  Character is very important, and only the pure of heart should wear the garment.  If its secrets got into the wrong hands, the evil that could occur would be nearly unstoppable.  Fortunately only the good guys know what it can do.  Chan becomes the reluctant spy as he is forced into becoming a secret agent to stop a maniac from poisoning the water supply.  Chan's rookie partner is Del (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who thinks that Jackie is really the original Devlin who is still in a hospital barely hanging onto life.  The Tuxedo wants to be a fun adventure that plays off of Jackie Chan's natural talents by making him look awkward when he is flipping through the air and kicking people in the face.  Unfortunately, the movie does not really work as it is presented.  First of all when you see a Jackie Chan movie, you want him to be able to fight all through the film.  Well, Jackie starts off being just a mild mannered cab driver who nearly gets his ass kicked by a angry bicyclist.  However, Chan still throws in some signature dodge moves that a non fighter would not have been able to do.  The premise is not completely stuck to.  Jackie should have been beaten completely and not able to escape harm the way he did before he gets the tuxedo.  When he gets the tuxedo, the movie never lets him really go off and do something really amazing.  It is basic karate type kicks with a few unreal special moves, but not enough.  The few fight scenes in the film are not shot that well and are very quick.  If it wasn't for the James Brown impersonation interlude, there would have been no point to having the suit anyway.  Also, for some reason, Hewitt is fairly competent in hand to hand without needing augmentation.  She never wears the tuxedo, but is still able to break out a leg sweep to take out a guy 3 times her size.  Chan gets way too much dialogue that he is very uncomfortable trying to say since his English not so good.  It is hard to understand him sometimes.  Hewitt knows English pretty well, but her emoting and acting talent is a bit suspect here.  She is surviving because she is very pretty.  That is usually enough, but she can still be annoying to watch.  Chan and Hewitt don't get to show any real chemistry even though they do have a lot of scenes together.  Jet Li and Aaliyah had much better moments together in Romeo Must Die doing some of the same things done in Tuxedo.  The main villain is pretty weak and pointless.  Poisoning water supplies is way too cliche to be interesting and its unique way of accomplishing the contamination is so convoluted that it is not worth the effort.  The big battle at the end had potential to be cool, but it never goes anywhere.  Tuxedo is a disappointment to fans of Jackie Chan whether you like his Chinese movies or his more popular Rush Hour ones, neither fan will be satisfied.  There is potential for a great movie here and even a set up for a fun TV series based on a magic tuxedo.  Nothing here is presented that makes it a must see.  Final Review:  1 1/2 stars out of 5; 4 1/2 out of 10; C-; thumbs down.  

That is all for this week. I promise that the Rest of the Top 10 in 10 returns next week.  The prequel to Silence of the Lambs and the remake of Manhunter comes out next week.  Goody goody.  Bye for now.