Hitch (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Hitch is a 2005 romantic comedy film starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James and Amber Valletta. The film is directed by Andy Tennant and written by Kevin Bisch. Smith plays a professional matchmaker, who makes a living teaching men how to seduce women.
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Plot summary
Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) is a professional "date doctor", or consultant as Hitch terms himself, who coaches other men in the art of having the perfect date with the woman of their dreams.
While coaching one of his clients, Albert Brennaman (Kevin James), who is smitten with celebrity Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta), Hitch finds himself falling for Sara (Eva Mendes), a gossip columnist who is determined to unmask and ruin the so-called date doctor after one of his "clients" (with whom Hitch refused to work) had a one-night stand with her best friend. However, where Albert and Allegra's relationship continues to progress, Hitch finds that none of his tried and tested methods are working on himself, despite being a master of the art. After Hitch is unmasked, he and Sara break up, and Allegra and Albert follow suit. Finally, Hitch confronts Allegra and convinces her to reunite with Albert, before reconciling with Sara. In the process, he makes the startling discovery that he doesn't really do anything significant, and that most of his customers (particularly Albert) really were successful by just being themselves. In the end, Albert and Allegra get married and celebrate their marriage with Hitch and Sara, who are back together again. Hitch, reflecting on love's unpredictability, addresses the audience in the last line, "Basic principles... There are none."
Production
The production budget was $70,000,000. Actress Eva Mendes (of Cuban descent), was alleged by Smith to have been offered the lead female role because the producers were worried about the public’s reaction if the part was given to a White actress (creating a potential interracial taboo) or a Black actress (creating a studio fear that two black leads alienate the larger white audience). A Latina and Black lead is believed to sidestep the issue. The working title of the movie was The Last First Kiss, referring a line Hitch delivers to Albert: "This could be her last first kiss." Parts of the movie were filmed in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, at Columbia University.
Cast
- Will Smith as Alex "Hitch" Hitchens
- Eva Mendes as Sara Melas
- Kevin James as Albert Brennaman
- Amber Valletta as Allegra Cole
- Julie Ann Emery as Casey Sedgewick
- Adam Arkin as Max
- Robinne Lee as Cressida Baylor
- Nathan Lee Graham as Geoff
- Michael Rapaport as Ben
- Jeffrey Donovan as Vance Munson
- Paula Patton as Mandy
Box office
The movie was a critical and commercial success, holding a 69% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from selected critics, a 61% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from top critics and a 73% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from users on Rotten Tomatoes.com, and ended up grossing $179,495,555 domestically, making it the tenth-highest grossing film of 2005. It also grossed $368,100,420 worldwide and broke Sony's record for best opening weekend for a romantic-comedy film.
DVD
The DVD release was one of the first movies to employ Sony's ARccOS copy protection. Also available on UMD (Universal Media Disc) for the Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable). A Blu-Ray Disc Edition of the movie is also available.
See also
