We watched this the other day, but I haven’t got around to posting about it, so why not now?
I had misgivings going in, given the recent Will Smith track record, and I’m not talking about Willennium.
(I’m really trying to make this bulleted list start below the picture. So far I have not been successful. Maybe if I add a bit more text here? Okay, that works on my machine. Your mileage may vary. Offer not valid in Tennessee.)
Here’s the last seven movies he’s done prior to Hitch:
- Shark Tale
- I, Robot
- Bad Boys II
- Men in Black II
- Ali
- The Legend of Bagger Vance
- Wild Wild West
Will (I feel like I can call him Will) was pretty good as Mohammed Ali, but it wasn’t a great movie. When We Were Kings (which Will had nothing to with) had 100 times the heart and emotional depth. Okay, so Ali was mediocre, but not awful. Can anyone dissuade me from the notion that all of the rest of those movies are jaw-droppingly bad?
So yeah, misgivings. But I gotta say, I wasn’t as un-entertained as I thought I would be. Will is a nice mix of stud and doofus, and completely likable. His movie is sort of a dude’s version of Emma-meets-Clueless, if you can imagine such a creature. There’s also a soupçon of Cyrano de Bergerac in this story of the matchmaker for hire who isn’t as smooth at making his own matches.
Make no mistake, this film is total fluff, and it has its problems. In what world does accountant Kevin James end up with heiress socialite Amber Valletta? The world of implausible romantic comedies, that’s where. The speed dating thing at the end seems like it belongs with another movie, say How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, a lesser variation on the same theme.
Links:
- Hitch: Amazon | IMDb
- Shark Tale: Amazon | IMDb
- I, Robot: Amazon | IMDb
- Bad Boys II: Amazon | IMDb
- Men in Black II: Amazon | IMDb
- Ali: Amazon | IMDb
- The Legend of Bagger Vance: Amazon | IMDb
- Wild Wild West: Amazon | IMDb
- Emma: Amazon | IMDb
- Clueless: Amazon | IMDb
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: Amazon | IMDb
