Review
HITCH
Starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes and Kevin James
Directed by Andy Tennant
Opens Friday, February 11
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Alex (Hitch) Hitchens makes a living teaching New York nerds how to get hot women to fall in love with them by holding back, playing it cool and having a little self-respect. Someone must’ve given the same advice to Will Smith, because he’s much less barfy in this role than usual.
He plays the titular "date doctor," a guy with a knack for helping other men get into relationships even though he doesn’t want one himself. As he embarks on his greatest challenge – making a world-famous socialite (Amber Valetta) fall for her nubbly accountant (The King of Queens’s Kevin James) – Hitch suddenly has a run of spectacularly bad luck in his own attempts to woo a jaded gossip columnist (Eva Mendes). With all the ensuing mayhem, Smith brings a calmness and precision to his work not seen since he first proved he could act 12 years ago in Six Degrees of Separation. Hitch is nowhere near as good a film as that was, to be sure, but it’s as nimble a romantic comedy as you’ll find this dreary time of year.
It helps that Smith is well matched on one side by James, who gives his character just enough anarchy to seem fun, and on the other by Mendes, who makes her uptight career gal refreshingly earthy and self-assured. (Valetta is also a game comic foil.) The combined charisma of these actors as individuals makes up for the fact that there isn’t much romantic heat between Mendes and Smith. They flirt and spar with plenty of relish, but that only makes them seem like they belong side by side in the schoolyard instead of all over each other in bed.
The script (by newcomer Kevin Bisch) also giveth and taketh away. It makes some smart observations about dating, like how nice guys would finish first if they learned how to be less overbearing, not necessarily less nice, and how women don’t want jerks so much as they want guys who understand the concept of breathing room. But these winning undercurrents get lost in the film’s formulaic structure. Hitch follows the rom-com rulebook right through to its series of misunderstandings and foregone conclusions. If it weren’t for the fleet-footedness of the cast and the light touch of director Andy Tennant (his Ever After and Sweet Home Alabama were also surprisingly watchable), it might be more vexing that the film goes on half an hour too long and leaves a bunch of fundamental questions unanswered. Why does Hitch need to work in secret and why it’s OK for him to screw around, but not OK for the men he counsels? But before you complain, just remember that your only other choice in romantic comedies right now is The Wedding Date. |
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