Despite the many things that this movie gets wrong, it manages to succeed by showcasing the likeable charisma of its lead, Will Smith, to good effect.
Smith stars as Hitch, a Manhattan Date Doctor, whose specialty is coaching men in methods of winning over the woman of their dreams. One of the biggest challenges of his career comes around when overweight, nerdy Albert (Kevin James The King of Queens) hires him to help win the heart of socialite Allegra Cole. Soon though, it is Hitch who is in need of assistance when he finds himself falling in love with a gossip columnist played by Eva Mendes. And yes, you can probably guess the ending of the movie before the opening credits have finished playing, but then aren't all romantic comedies that predictable?
Some of the movie's best moments come early in the film when Hitch narrates several scenarios to illustrate how he works. We see several of his clients walking through the steps to winning the girl. The catch to all of this, and what keeps Hitch from being just another sleazy player, is that he coaches how to find love, not just sex.
It's only a pity that in a romantic comedy, the greatest chemistry should take place not between the two people falling in love, but between Smith and James. Hitch's urban suaveness clashes nicely with Albert's nerdy accountant clumsiness. Their time together onscreen provides the biggest laughs.
Eva Mendes, the real love interest in the film, is reduced to playing the stereotypically bitter, but beautiful woman who never dates because men are such bastards, who then falls in love as soon as our hero comes along. Whenever she and Hitch are alone and the dialogue turns serious, the movie becomes awkwardly slow. Perhaps the only true moment of heat that is generated from the two of them comes when they get into an argument and begin throwing food at each other.
The movie also runs long for a romantic comedy (nearly 2 hours) and could easily have been trimmed. Michael Rapaport has a cameo appearance in the beginning of the film as Hitch's best friend. After this one scene, which should have been cut completely, his character never reappears. Perhaps they wanted to leave the scene in because Rappaport is a fairly recognizable actor, but it should have been trimmed (no offense to Rapaport). There are other scenes that could benefit from an editor's knife, as well.
Without a doubt, this is the date movie for Valentine's Day, 2005. But then considering that most of the competition is either really bad horror films (I'm including The Wedding Date in that category), or leftover Oscar Contenders, perhaps that's not saying so much.
