Smith Rules

Rating: 5/10 (18 June 2005)

Will Smith can carry a movie all by himself, even this one that had few funny moments. It is billed as a comedy after all. The selection of Kevin James remains a mystery to me. The man is not funny, telegraphs everything he does, and he essentially tries too hard to be funny and fails miserably. I can only offer this advice to him: go back and watch the masters, Chaplin, Gleason, Blue, etc and learn timing from them. And, yes, watching reruns of the Friends TV show may help too. Failing that go to drama or sell cars.
The only funny thing I found in this "romantic comedy" was when Hitch eats some food and discovers that he is allergic to whatever it was he ate. His reaction and facial changes were actually laugh out loud funny. I guess this catches us by surprise. Also, Hitch gives some very good lines (advice to the men he is helping) and there may be some truth to some of them.
OK, aside from the movie not being funny except for the food allergy scene, this is a fairly good story. Hitch and tabloid reporter (Mendes, who is very beautiful, by the way) try to get it on with the usual girl-boy point and counter point sparring. The sparring part of it is good, but the love angle doesn't work here. No one is focused enough for that. This is the part that is most ironical too. Hitch always professes to the guy he is helping to be "focused" (toward the girl) and here (as actor Smith) playing the part he is not focused enough for the audience to see he has feelings for Mendes. Oh, he goes through the usual love-pain gyrations, but it just didn't seem real for me. Sorry. Maybe he knows Jada (his real wife) will be watching.
The supporting cast aside from James all did a very good job. Will Smith is very talented and I truly believe he would make an excellent James Bond. This has nothing to do with this movie. I just needed to say it. Smith rules.