A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Hitch

Date Viewed: 2/22/05

Details:

Will Smith

Eva Mendes

Kevin James

Amber Valletta

Julie Ann Emery

Philip Bosco

Director: Andy Tennant

Score: +

The Review: Yet another semi-light romantic comedy.

Let's see -- since this is a romantic comedy, there is the obligate Mars versus Venus theme (what would we ever do without Deborah Tannen?). One of the parallel threads (Mars) follows Hitch (Smith) and his clients, all of whom are dating mine-fields; each has contracted with Hitch -- the experienced one -- to help them woo the woman of their dreams. His primary client is Albert (James), who as a minor accountant appears to have no chance to even approach minor celebrity Allegra (Valletta), but under Hitch's tutelege seems to be making major inroads. The other (Venus) parallel thread follows gossip columnist Sara (Mendes) and her friend Casey (Emery) in their quest to avoid romantic entanglement. The primary conflict comes when the threads inter-weave: Hitch meets Sara and discovers that all his charm and experience are not quite hitting on target. Because this is a comedy and a chip off the Book of Job, of course then things must go downhill into errors, missteps, mistakes and revenge. But they do so in an entertaining (if not fully Shakespearian) fashion. Contrived but watchable.

For the second time in a few weeks, a newly released romantic comedy has a character whose male lead is a "professional" in the love-business, one way or another: both in Wedding Date, as a male escort, and here (Hitch) as the low-profile date-doctor. Does this then represent a new approach to romantic comedy -- to offer a legitimizing reason for the male to be "sensitive/caring/etc"? Is this a hook that allows male viewers an "out" for agreeing to attend a chick flick? Is there no place anymore for a male (lead or no) who really is "sensitive/caring/etc" even though his business demeanor does not call for it? Does this allow this movie to be classified as a "heavy" romantic comedy? These rhetorical questions will be left as an exercise for the student.

It's hard to believe that this is Will Smith's first foray into this genre. He's a natural: appealing, engaging, comfortable, inventive, watchable -- someone for both halves of the couple to appreciate and enjoy.

(27-Feb-05)

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