The Reel Critic

Author: [no author name found]

Once upon a time, in a shining city called New York, there lived a handsome man named Alex Hitchinson. Alex, or Hitch, as he was known, helped other men get the women of their dreams, but had yet to find love himself. Also in this city, there lived a beautiful gossip columnist named Sara Melas, a self-proclaimed "realist" concerning matters of the heart. Their quest for love is the subject of "Hitch," currently the number one movie in America.

Will Smith plays Hitch, a "date doctor" who Sara (Eva Mendez), among other people, thinks is an urban myth. Hitch's business is "100 percent referral," and he likes it that way. He helps forlorn and forgone men on the crucial first three dates, and then they're on their own. If they are satisfied, they pass his name on to the next desperate man.

Albert Brennaman (Kevin James, "King of Queens") is such a man - an accountant who is desperately in love with beautiful heiress Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta). Hitch thinks he's nuts to go after Allegra but agrees to help Albert anyway. In the meantime, Hitch meets his match in Sara, the gossip columnist who would love to get the real story on the date doctor and follows Allegra's every move.

While Hitch is great at helping other men on their dates, his own are disastrous. First, he takes Sara to Ellis Island and shows her one of her ancestors' signature in the register, not knowing her painful family history. On their next date, Alex develops a food allergy which causes his face to swell up, and ends up passing out on her couch, drugged up on Benedryl. Nevertheless, Sara is endeared by his blunders, and, at last, the professional bachelor finds himself falling in love with her as well.

Of course, no romantic comedy would be complete without Alex losing Sara and having to win her back, and this is exactly what happens when she discovers who he really is and what he does for a living. "Hitch" definitely follows the typical boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back plotline. (Sorry to ruin any surprises, but would you really have been surprised anyway?)

Will Smith pulls off the suave metrosexual professional perfectly, but that's not to say it's any great acting feat. He pretty much appears to be playing himself with an insight about women. The lovely Ms. Mendez is a welcome fresh face, and she and Smith have good onscreen chemistry. And Kevin James is fun as a lovable goof with atrocious dancing skills.

"Hitch" is a marshmallow movie - sweet and fluffy without much substance. "Brain candy" as one of my friends put it. It presents New York as a shiny, glowing, idyllic city where attaining love is people's only worry. It's an escapist movie - great for passing an amusing two hours as a break from midterms, but not much more.

"Hitch" is playing in Middlebury at the Marquis Theater, in South Burlington at Northeast Cinemas, in Williston at the Majestic 10 and Essex Junction at the Essex Outlet Cinemas.