Main Cast: Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James, Amber Valletta, Julie Ann Emery
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 117 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A man who teaches dateless wonders how to become irresistible to women learns just how hard it can be to do it yourself in this romantic comedy. When a guy in New York City wants to make the right impression with a certain lady, Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) is the man he calls. Hitch has made a career out of coordinating a man's first three dates so that they'll show him to his best advantage (for a price, of course), and more than a few have taken women to the altar they first started courting with Hitch's help. But Hitch discovers his own romantic limitations when he falls for Sara (Eva Mendes), a journalist who has her own ideas about romance, and might just expose Hitch's underground business to the world. In the midst of all this, Hitch has his hands full with Albert, a sweet but socially inept man who has enlisted Hitch's services. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Hitch is an amiable if rote romantic comedy that maximizes the charms of its quartet of leads. Unfortunately, the film mines most of its narrative ore from the tiresome notion that modern-day males are complete idiots, as mystified by the female gender as a coyote is by the moon. How much more fun a film would this have been if the "date doctor" character had been a woman trying to help her sex understand male motivations and behaviors? It's certainly less played-out a concept than the one employed by writer Kevin Bisch and director Andy Tennant, and as evidenced by the success of a few recent, real-life best-sellers (He's Just Not That Into You, anyone?), the public seems primed for such a twist. But -- big sigh -- the filmmakers serve up the same-old, same-old, dancing-as-sex, chivalry-not-being-dead, groom-yourself-then-be-yourself maxims that this genre's fans have seen thousands of times already. Where the film ultimately works is in its appealing casting choices, with Will Smith and Kevin James providing solid buddy-comedy laughs in their mano a mano scenes, Eva Mendes doing a fine job as Hitch's slightly flinty sparring partner, and Amber Valletta a real surprise as a rich, classy beauty with actual brains and feelings. The moves are as pre-programmed as they get, but Hitch is good enough for a blind date or a post-dinner rental, where the expectations are a little lower. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Patricia Woodbridge - Art Director, Kathleen Chopin - Casting, Marlene Stewart - Costume Designer, Scott Printz - First Assistant Director, Andy Tennant - Director, Troy T. Takaki - Editor, Tracey Wadmore-Smith - Editor, Michael Tadross - Executive Producer, Wink Mordaunt - Executive Producer, George Fenton - Composer (Music Score), Jane Musky - Production Designer, Andrew Dunn - Cinematographer, Will Smith - Producer, James Lassiter - Producer, Teddy Zee - Producer, T.J. O'Mara - Sound/Sound Designer, Conrad V. Brink - Special Effects Supervisor, Kevin Bisch - Screenwriter, Ellen Christiansen - Set Decorator
Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) is a professional "date doctor", or consultant as Hitch terms himself, who coaches other men in the art of having the perfect date with the woman of their dreams.
In a flashback scene, Hitch, a then-nerd, dated a girl in college who cheated on him and broke his heart; this moved him to become a date doctor to help men who are as hopeless with women as he once had been.
While coaching one of his clients, Albert Brennaman (Kevin James), who is smitten with celebrity Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta), Hitch finds himself falling for Sara Melas (Eva Mendes), a gossip columnist who is determined to unmask and ruin the so-called date doctor after one of his "clients" (with whom Hitch refused to work, unknown to Sara) had a one night stand with her best friend. However, where Albert and Allegra's relationship continues to progress, Hitch finds that, despite his being a master of the art, none of his tried and tested methods works for him.
Sara finds out that Hitch is the date doctor and mistakenly concludes that he helps men get women into bed, which makes Albert look like he's just after sex. Hitch reveals to Sara and her friend that he helps men have a chance to do the impossible by dating the women of their dreams. Afterwards, Hitch is hesitant to speak to Sara, and Albert is upset that the media thinks he really isn't in love with Allegra.
Hitch confronts Allegra and convinces her to reunite with Albert, before finally reconciling with Sara. In the process, he makes the startling discovery that he doesn't really do anything significant; while Hitch is able to give them the confidence boost to go after what they want, most of his customers (particularly Albert) really were successful by just being themselves.
In the end, Albert and Allegra get married and celebrate their marriage with Hitch and Sara, who are also together again. Hitch, reflecting on love's unpredictability, addresses the audience in the last line: "Basic principles... There are none".
The production budget was $70,000,000. Smith alleged that actress Eva Mendes, of Cuban descent, was offered the female lead because the producers were worried about the public’s reaction if the part was played by a White actress (creating a potential interracial taboo) or a Black actress (creating a studio fear that two black leads would alienate the white audiences). It was believed that a Latina and a Black lead would sidestep the issue.[2]Robinne Lee's character (Cressida) was originally offered to Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, but she could not take the role due to scheduling problems.[3] The working title of the movie was The Last First Kiss, referring to a line that Hitch delivers to Albert: "This could be her last first kiss." Parts of the movie were filmed in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, at Columbia University.
Reception and box office
The film received generally positive reviews, garnering a 68% "fresh" approval rating from notable critics, a 61% approval rating from top critics, and a 73% approval rating from users on the Rotten Tomatoes website. It also received a 58/100 on Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews." The film also ended up grossing $179,495,555 domestically, making it the tenth-highest grossing film of 2005, and one of distributor Columbia's few successes that year. It also grossed $368,100,420 worldwide and broke Sony's record for best opening weekend for a romantic-comedy film.[4]
