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Will Smith's easygoing charm makes Hitch the kind of pleasant, uplifting romantic comedy that you could recommend to almost anyone--especially if there's romance in the air. As suave Manhattan dating consultant Alex "Hitch" Hitchens, Smith plays up the smoother, sophisticated side of his established screen persona as he mentors a pudgy accountant (Kevin James) on the lessons of love. The joke, of course, is that Hitch's own love life is a mess, and as he coaches James toward romance with a rich, powerful, and seemingly inaccessible beauty named Allegra (Amber Valetta), he's trying too hard to impress a savvy gossip columnist (Eva Mendes) with whom he's fallen in love. Through mistaken identities and mismatched couples, director Andy Tennant brings the same light touch that made Drew Barrymore's Ever After so effortlessly engaging. As romantic comedies go, Hitch doesn't offer any big surprises, but as a date movie it gets the job done with amiable ease and style. --Jeff Shannon
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Andy Tennant |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 11 February, 2005 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Sony Pictures |
| MPAA RATING: | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) |
| FEATURES: | AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC |
| TYPE: | Adult Language, Adult Situations, Bright, Cinderella Stories, Color, Comedies, Comedy, Comedy Video, English, Feature, Feature Film Comedy, Feature Film-comedy, Flashy, Humorous, Light, Madcap, Movie, Opposites Attract, Romance, Romantic Comedy |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| MPN: | D11235D |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 043396112353 |
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Hitch (Widescreen Edition) reviews by customers
 Hitch Cinema Psychotherapy
The premise of Hitch (Will Smith) as cinema psychotherapy is if you see enough films (and avoid alcohol, nicotine and caffeine) you don't need a therapist. Groundhog Day has the next lesson: you need to see a movie daily for 10 years in order to really "get" the lesson. Third, anyone loved and appreciated by family and friends knows love without sex, and more love with or without sex will eventually find them.
In the movie, Hitch loved and was deeply hurt early in life, so he decides never to love again, but to help other dorks like himself avoid his prior mistakes and find true love. Hitch is a paid consultant in love: new teeth, work outs (or liposuction), new hair, new clothes, new glasses, new dance steps, confidence, power tie, power suit, power car, power hand shake. The insecure like Albert (Kevin James) pay handsomely for his assistance in realizing romance. But underneath all his self assurance, Hitch believes in the power of love to transform lives and refuses to work with verbally physically emotionally spiritually abusive men. Charmingly, Hitch alludes to the tendency of men's eyes to wander even when in deeply committed relationships, as when Hitch's former roommate now brother-in-law tries to advise Hitch on love; which is another way of saying how you look can attract attention but not necessarily love.
In the movie Hitch advises a series of men in their approach to the women of their dreams. However Hitch falls for and is outed by gossip columnist who feels manipulated by his well practiced techniques when she discovers his profession. Subsequently his prior successes dissolve. The resolution of this hilarious movie is heart warming psychobabble: anyone who loves you as yourself probably loves the authentic you; if they walk away, they will always regret having lost you.
The movie 84 Charing Cross Road (Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft) illustrates the possibility of love entirely through letters; that you can love having NEVER seen one another which explains centuries of Chinese reproduction via arranged marriage.
Hitch posits external characteristics are first attractants only: love is a matter of luck (orchestrated by Hitch or your local plastic surgeon), keeping a relationship intact relies on the old standards: mental health, honor, fidelity, probity, commitment to doing what is right and true to the best of one's ability, being yourself. The happiest people are rarely those with the biggest toys, teeth, body parts, and the happiest couples are often mixes of extraordinary kindness, generosity, mutual caring, sacrifice and devotion, shared fiscal, parenting and sexual values. If you follow books on cinema or epsychotherapy and watch the movies recommended in each chapter according to problem you can save yourself a bundle on therapy. Laughingly recommended with 5 stars. Also see The Holiday, Sense and Sensibility with Kate Winslet (she plays the same role twice), Persuasion with Amanda Root and Cieran Hinds, Pride and Prejudice the two DVD BBC serialized version with Colin Firth. All these movies recommend being yourself: honorable, true to your word, honest, impeccable in your ethics and morals, and willing to make humble changes in your preconceived notions of what is desirable. And if love finds you, it is karma, if not, you are still the most remarkable unique human being the earth has ever known, there will never be another you (hear Rosemary Clooney sing it in Lake House). You are perfect just the way you are, be well.
 The Cure for the Common Man...
Typically when I'm choosing a movie to watch in my spare time, I will choose from action, drama, comedy, sci-fi, thrillers, etc. (what you would basically expect from any guy), I can honestly say that I very rarely choose a romantic comedy, and never a musical. However, sometimes a romantic comedy comes along that looks interesting and funny to me, generally because the premise is different from most or because I like the stars in it, or simply because my wife chooses the movie for our movie night. In the case of "Hitch" it was a combination of the first 2 factors, but for some reason my wife and I never got around to watching this movie in theaters, and for the longest time on DVD. But recently, we sat down and watched it, and I must say that even though many critics and some moviegoers weren't entertained that much by the movie, I found it to be highly enjoyable and one of the better romantic comedies I had seen.
"Hitch" is the story of Alex 'Hitch' Hitchens (Will Smith), a man whose job is to find ways for a man to successfully woo the woman of his choice into a successful dating relationship. Hitch is a man that is good at his job, but never really finds the time for his own dating life. When Hitch begins coaching a pudgy accountant (Kevin James) on how to get noticed by an attractive, wealthy heiress, his own love life begins to blossom, but through a series of mishaps starts to go horribly awry. Inevitably leaving Hitch wondering why he can make love happen for complete strangers but never for himself. But before he can figure out what's going on in his life, a newsreporter (Eva Mendes) is trying to uncover the true identity of this so-called 'Date Doctor', and after protecting his identity for so long Hitch finds himself in the media crosshairs, and the real kicker is, it's his new girlfriend that put him there.
As far as romantic comedies go, most of them are generally predictable to some extent, sometimes the predictability of these types of films lends to boredom for me. However, there are a few romantic comedies that manage to be predictable, yet still entertain, and then there are the few (very few) that just surprise you by not being all that predictable. "Hitch" falls somewhere between somewhat predictable and not all that much, there are the typical romantic comedy elements that are crucial for this type of film. For example, guy finds girl, impresses girl, things get serious, some secret about guy is discovered by girl, girl breaks up with guy, guy proclaims love for girl, and all is well with the world - those are your basic elements (give or take one or two) to almost every romantic comedy these days, and "Hitch" contains several of them. The difference for me was that unlike a lot of other romantic comedies where the story is so thin and the humor is virtually non-existent that you find yourself already knowing how the movie will end and checking your eyelids for holes within the first 30 minutes due to boredom, "Hitch" keeps things going at a very steady pace with plenty of laughs and clever dialogue that I never got distracted by getting ahead of the story, and remained entertained throughout. Probably the element I enjoyed the most of the movie was the way the character of Hitch had taken a by-the-book approach to dating, as far as his tips go, that worked like a charm for every guy that he tutored, yet could never get the same approach to work for him, and in the end he discovers that love, much like life, isn't always so simply figured out.
The performances by the cast were uniformly strong, Will Smith and Kevin James out-shined everyone, which wasn't really all that surprising given their comedic and acting talents. Eva Mendes was very endearing as the woman that Hitch is trying to start a relationship with, and she shows a great on-screen chemistry with Will Smith that made their couple very believable. The story as I said earlier contained many of the familiar elements of most romantic comedies, yet still entertained me, and I never felt like I'd seen it all before. The ending is what you expect, and of course hope for in this type of movie, but the execution of the ending was done in a very interesting and unique way that I didn't expect, probably making it a much more enjoyable ending than most.
With all of that being said, "Hitch" isn't the most original romantic comedy, but there are numerous elements that are unique, and allowed me to overlook the same old elements that are so tried and true to this genre. It was a very entertaining movie, that provides you plenty of laughter and leaves you feeling good, which is what these movies should do.
"Hitch" is rated PG-13 for language and sensuality.
Will, Kevin, and New York, New York
Every role is perfectly cast in this romantic comedy/buddy movie. Kevin James and Will Smith are funny, but never over-the-top in roles that could have gone silly with less capable actors.
The movie is also a love affair with Manhattan. Every scene takes place in one distinctly New York spot after another. I loved each one.
By the way, the soundtrack for Hitch is great, too.
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