rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2005
Directed by Andy Tennant; produced by James Lassiter, Will Smith, Teddy Zee; written by Kevin Bish
Starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James, Amber Valletta, Julie Ann Emery, Adam Arkin, Michael Rapaport
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Hitch' follows all the right rules for a romantic comedies, which actually
means it is filled with clichés, but somehow it manages to become more funny
and more charming than most others. Most people are happy when the two stars
end up together and of course there is no doubt that Will Smith and Eva
Mendes will do that exact thing. The more interesting part of the story
comes from a second love story that deals with a rich woman and an
overweighted accountant.
Will Smith is Alex Hitchens, or Hitch, and he is a date doctor. He helps men
to make their dreamgirls fall in love with them and an opening montage shows
he is pretty good at his job. His latest client is Albert (Kevin James), the
accountant, who loves his employer Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta). She is not
only beautiful, she is pretty wealthy as well. While helping Albert Hitch
meets gossip columnist Sara (Mendes). They both like each other but are not
that fond of falling in love. That Allegra is kind of famous and Sara is a
gossip columnist is of course part of the inevitable problems the two, or
actually four, lovers have to face.
What I really liked here was the time given to the Albert-Allegra story
line. Of course Will Smith is still involved in those scenes, but they were
not really about him and James can be credited for some very fine moments.
Smith himself here has his charms and I liked him from the start. We learn
pretty soon that Hitch's intentions are good so every little trick that he
pulls we watch with a smile; Smith clearly has a lot of fun with his
character. As for Mendes and especially Valletta, they are the usual pawns
in the game but they make the best of their characters. Besides these people
ending up together we want some chemistry. 'Hitch' has that, a lot actually,
and it is occasionally funny as well, making me recommend this movie.