Movies
Hitch
An anonymous Date Doctor, working by personal referrals only, dispenses self-help slogans ("With no guile and no game, there's no girl") and empirical pearls of wisdom ("Eight out of ten women believe that one kiss will tell them everything they need to know about a relationship") to a select group of male clients carefully screened for their moral fiber and their honorable intentions. Yet the women in the movie, as the men intuitively fear they will, react to this newfangled advisor to the lovelorn, this better-dressed Cupid, as if he were the satanic spawn of Valmont and Mme. de Merteuil from Les Liaisons Dangereuses. What, or where, is the beef? Will Smith tries to apologize for his insufferable air of overconfidence by way of a cartoonish depiction of a shellfish allergy (his face swelling like a battered boxer's), a flashback to his days as a collegiate nerd, and a genuinely funny bout of inarticulacy when pleading his case to his steamed girlfriend. Director Andy Tennant sees to it that the star gets his accustomed surplus of closeups. In fact he sees to it that the subservient support team -- Eva Mendes, Kevin James, Amber Valletta, Julie Ann Emery -- get more than their share of closeups, too. In fact he sees to little else. 2005.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: PG-13
