The Unberable Phonyness Of Cuteness

Rating: 5/10 (9 October 2005)

Will Smith is fabulous. Elegant, handsome, funny, with an irresistible childish maturity. I hope one day he'll get the comedy his talent really deserves. "Hitch" is smooth, I hand you that, but the formulaic code by which the implausible proceedings unfold, makes the whole damn thing very irritating. I didn't believe in the melt down of Eva Mendes for a minute. The happy ending made me think and predict a "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" in their near future. There is an element of hardness and of selfishness that the cuteness couldn't mask. I couldn't help longing for Billy Wilder and I.A.L Diamond, for a moment of truth, no matter how ugly. Real comedies have that from Lubitch farces to Rock Hudson/Doris Day pastiches. None of that is present here. A few moments with Kevin James and the unquestionable charm of Will Smith will see you through, but that, unfortunately, is hardly enough.