Will Smith Tries His Best to Get Deserving Guys Hitched

Back when I went to see Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, the day before my birthday, Hitch was playing in the other theater. Although going to see Winnie-the-Pooh was her idea, my friend has playfully rubbed it in ever since that she could’ve seen Hitch one time, but instead we had to go see that dumb Pooh movie… So last night we finally amended that. It’s nice to have a six-screen dollar theater. It means that most of the movies we wanted to see when they first came out make it to the more affordable big screen before landing on video.

The first thing we noticed was the apparent randomness of the previews. Usually there is a certain overriding theme. Revenge of the Sith boasted previews for action / adventure flicks, predominantly involving superheroes. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe probably aims a little younger than the other films, but it qualifies as an epic fantasy and probably will be this Christmas’ big blockbuster. And after all, C. S. Lewis did say that really great children’s literature appeals as much to adults as kids, and that’s especially true when the current adults were kids when the book in question came out and recall it fondly. But I’m in danger of losing myself on a tangent. The point I wanted to make is that the previews here ranged from Kicking and Screaming to The Interpreter, apparently indicating that Hitch is a film with a diverse audience. To my surprise, none of the trailers were for a romantic comedy.

I go into most movies without terribly high expectations. I expect to be entertained, and usually I am. But I leave the “You’d better wow me or else” attitude for monumental movies like the LOTR trilogy. I had heard a lot of good things about Hitch, so I figured I’d like it, but for a buck I didn’t really care too much if it fell a little flat. Luckily, it turned out to be a dollar well spent.

Will Smith plays Alex Hitchins, known to his clients simply as Hitch. He’s a rather unlikely date doctor, given the fact that in college he had all the panache of Steve Urkel (and looked suspiciously like him too). But a longtime lack of luck with the ladies must have inspired him to concentrate on tapping into their psyches, because in the present day he is smooth and savvy, sure he’s discovered all the tricks for getting a girl’s attention. For the most part, he focuses that inside information in a positive direction, helping hopelessly geeky guys win the affections of the women they adore – as long as they really are interested in a relationship and not a sleazy one-night stand. It’s an altruistic pursuit, particularly when he takes on the case of Albert (Kevin James), a clumsy, bespectacled accountant head over heels for beautiful heiress Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta).

Smith is the film’s focal point. He often directly addresses the audience, imparting his wisdom. At several points in the movie, the scene alternates between Hitch giving Albert advice on an upcoming date and Albert doing his best to take it and fly with it once he’s in the actual situation. The first half of the movie is full of disastrous hilarity, not only on the part of the perpetually klutzy Albert but also Hitch, who finds his own insight seems to fail him miserably when he’s faced with the prospect of pursuing a serious relationship of his own. The object of his affection is Sara (Eva Mendez), a career-centered journalist who’s always first on the scene when the fodder for juicy gossip is born. Both Allegra and Sara seem pretty receptive to the advances of their wooers, though Sara is hard-pressed to admit it. I heard many comments about the lack of chemistry between Smith and Mendez, but I thought they made a fairly convincing couple, while James and Valletta were adorable together. The most chemistry, however, is clearly between Smith and James, whose scenes together are both riotous and touching. If Smith is suave and debonair, James is sweetly bumbling, and it’s easy to see why an heiress would fall for his character.

There’s nothing terribly unpredictable in this film, but when’s the last time you were shocked by a romantic comedy? Though my friend loved the beginning, she though the movie descended into implausibility, but I thought it was all pretty cleverly done, and while it may have been a tad over-the-top, the film illuminated some of the difficulties that two people who could make a beautiful couple create for themselves. Mainly, though, this film is simply a lot of fun.