Fanciful without ever feeling too distant or with a distinct, mean-spirited streak; thanks largely to Tennant's good work with the material early on.

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 2010)

Had it been made any worse than what it is, Hitch may well have been a wry; sly; misguided; totally unredeemable; sexist piece of garbage with no redeeming value, whereas had it been produced a little better than what we get, the film may have been a much more nourishing, much more satisfying comedy about relationships and confronting one's fears. As it is, Hitch falls between two stalls, two rather extreme stalls; it isn't by any means a bad film but is one far more underwhelming that it really ought to have been. It's also a lot longer than it has any right to be, Andy Tennant's direction feeding off of a Kevin Bisch screenplay sees Tennant prove fairly quickly that he can negate most of the early stuff to do with set up; quick-fire dialogue and humorous character exchanges. Problem is, by the time everything's slipped off into more serious territory and these people's lives threaten to fall apart as friendships; trust and links break down, the film thinks its carrying more dramatic energy than it actually is and thus, falls a little flat. Regardless, and for the best part, we've come to both care for as well as become a tad fond of the characters on show enough to stick it out.
Will Smith plays the titular Hitch, a fast piece of casting in that Smith is an easy guy to get behind and the character of Hitch is somebody we need to observe the good in from the very beginning. Hitch's life effectively sees him stalk women for somewhat of a living; the taking of notes and the careful forming of plans in a calculated manner so as to have them hook up with the poor men whom come to him, so desperately seeking said women, Hitch's line of work. An early sequence renders such a situation one that relies on comic timing and physical comedy more than anything else, when a man's preordained meeting with a woman whose dog goes missing via an elevator mix up in the lobby of a building sees one of Hitch's many plans of action put into motion and successfully working. One day, the man Hitch himself refers to as a project that'll come to resemble his "Sistine Chapel", a certain Albert Brennaman played by Kevin James , lands in his lap. His goal: to woo wealthy woman and celebrity Allegra Cole (Valletta) with whom he works at a large company.
On another strand, Eva Mendes' Sara Melas is a high powered journalist whom we have to go along with believing that she cannot get a man; something that eerily appears to bother her co-workers more than it does her. Throughout the duration of the film, which is probably a good half an hour too long, their lives and stories will come to entwine with a few harsh truths learnt along the way. The film is one of those to unfold in a New York City that appears to only exist within both the movies and the minds of fanciful would-be tourists whom are yet to venture out to said city, and its something that's grated a lot more in the past with other films than it does here. Additionally, a lot of Smith's to-camera bantering echoes that of Woody Allen during years of old. Tennant and his crew take little time to inform us on where everybody stands regarding Hitch, the notion of such a character existing and doing what he does is addressed very early on. Any ideas of the man being a cold-blooded misogynist, whom despises women because of a prior tragedy at college during which one of them showed him up before coming to uses this lease of life to artfully teach men how to seduce the women they'd usually never get anywhere near, are addressed and banished very quickly: an interaction with one of your more stereotypical New York yuppies at a diner raising the item before having Hitch essentially reject it.
We like Albert, principally because he's a little chubby and comes across as a kind of likable enough guy whom wears glasses and has a name like Albert. James and Smith build up quite a rapport, their scenes with each other are far funnier than they have any right to be; his tale to do with the trying to have Allegra notice him sweet and good natured with both the fact we only really realise how much we were enjoying it and how effective it actually was becoming apparent by the time Smith and Mendes' story has overridden it, itself somewhat underwhelming. Like Hitch, Melas is high flying in her chosen career and like Hitch, she sticks to a strict procession of rules that govern her life and job – barely, like Hitch, finding time for a love life. Their coming together and consequent falling apart is entertaining enough; the energy and punch that infuses that first conversation they have at a local night spot at a table sadly only as good as it gets there and then. Later on, a long stretch during which Melas accuses him of being something the film has already gone to extreme lengths to point out he isn't tires us; the physical comedy embedded within the film by this point as equally prominent as it is merely unwelcome. Despite its flaws and pacing problems and the fact a lot of what happens later on might be cured with a simple "No, it didn't actually happen", Hitch successfully in a minute manner hooks us up and we enjoy our time with it overall.