Mediocre film-making and a very clichéd plot.

Rating: 4/10 (27 October 2007)

But was it funny? A few bits here and there were okay. Is it worth seeing? I'd say not really. It was generally watchable but then it was also unnecessarily long (it drags towards the end) and the potential of the story's idea is crushed by the movie's onslaught of clichés. The actors are likable enough (especially Kevin James) although Will Smith isn't at his best and Eva Mendes' character didn't quite convince me (probably the script's fault).
I think Hitch is a good example in some ways of how over ambitious film-making can ruin a perfectly good idea. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to put as many good ideas as you can into a movie but you also have to be able to recognise whether they work or not; you have to be aware of your own limitations and work to your strengths. For me, much of the "clever" dialogue came across as forced and a bit lacking in subtlety (perhaps some better acting could have made this less noticeable). I also thought the cinematography was quite boring and unimaginative. Of course, one could argue that's not at all important in a comedy movie like Hitch but it can make the difference between an effortlessly engaging film and one that has the audience fidgeting and checking their watch half the time.
One of the primary ways in which I found Hitch to be typical and predictable was in its score. There seems to be a trend as of late with comedy in TV shows and movies where the music consists mainly of pizzicato strings playing a kind of waltz that constantly stops and starts and is intentionally "quirky". Desperate Housewives is probably the undisputed leader in this field (from my experience). The scene in the boardroom with Kevin James' outburst has this kind of insidious music that I'm referring to. It's obvious and lazy and terribly clichéd. On the contrary, some of the songs used were really good ("(What a) Wonderful World" and "You Can Get it if You Really Want" right near the start) but I still felt as though there was this disconnection between the music and the movie (which makes it all the more difficult for the audience to get into it).
One other complaint would simply be the lack of comedic ideas in the movie. The central idea could make for any number of hilarious situations but the script is frustratingly tame and cheesy. Had Hitch been more content with being an entertaining and silly comedy, the director's style not gotten in the way of the characters and the script been a bit more adventurous (and funny!), it could have been a good movie. But other than a couple of fairly enjoyable little parts, as it is I felt like it was a complete waste of time.