Amiable romantic comedy

Rating: 7/10 (20 March 2005)

Amiable romantic comedy starring Will Smith in one his better roles as the 'Date Doctor' Alex "Hitch" Hitchens advising high flying business execs on how to date the girl of their dreams. A subplot follows Hitch battling against the odds to woo gossip columnist Sara (Eva Mendes) who is a career girl 'sworn off men'.
I find my attention span for Will Smith's characters is usually pretty limited, but I managed to find him likable for the whole of this (slightly overlong) movie. Although the plot is fairly predictable, and the goons needing makeovers are pretty standard, the movie manages to be consistently amusing and a lot of the dating 'tips' are quite good common sense. Hitch is also a man with his heart in the right place - he wants to 'create opportunities' rather than teach men how to 'score'. He is almost the Dr Jekyll of the Dr Hyde character created by Tom Cruise's memorable performance in Magnolia as the dating guru who teaches men to get laid in the most cynical of fashion.
There's also the odd gem under the mishmash of this fairly mindless entertainment such as "Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away" ( - not an original line, but quite a beautiful one). Hitch is mainstream, lightweight but thoroughly enjoyable date movie - don't expect too much and you may be pleasantly surprised.