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Hitch
Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment

Hitch reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 58 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.2 out of 10
based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 63 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language and some strong sexual references

Starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James, Amber Valletta, Julie Ann Emery, Robinne Lee, Adam Arkin, and Michael Rapaport

In this sophisticated romantic comedy, Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Smith) is a legendary - and deliberately anonymous - New York City "date doctor" who, for a fee, has helped countless men woo the women of their dreams. While coaching Albert (James), a meek accountant who is smitten with a glamorous celebrity (Valletta), Hitch finally meets his match in the person of the gorgeous, whip-smart Sara (Mendes), a gossip columnist who is on to him. (Sony)


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Kevin Bisch  
DIRECTED BY: Andy Tennant  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: June 14, 2005 
Video: June 14, 2005 
Theatrical: February 11, 2005 
RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Immensely likable, and allows Mr. Smith to fulfill his manifest destiny -- as an urbane comedian who is also, shades of Cary Grant, a romantic hero.
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Hitch is 2005's lone legitimate contender for a Valentine's Day movie date.
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75
USA Today Mike Clark
For much of its length, the premise seems less wilted than you'd guess. This is because, for one thing, Mendes gives as good as she gets.
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75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Smith turns it on with co-star Eva Mendes in a manner that will have George Clooney taking notes.
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75
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Smith is an endearing, driving comedic force, one who makes the buoyant Hitch more enjoyable than it has any reason to be.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer
The less in control Smith and his co- stars Eva Mendes and Kevin James appear, the better Hitch becomes, until it's rather delightful.
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75
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Like most great comedies, Hitch confects a sweetly appealing fantasy.
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70
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Romantic comedies have become so cannibalistic lately that Hitch stands out for what seem like major innovations by comparison.
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70
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Sometimes big-time studio entertainment is done so well, you simply have to salute its corporate effectiveness.
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70
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
A slick new meta-romantic comedy selling a transparent yet strangely irresistible fantasy of upscale romance among the beautiful but guarded.
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70
Village Voice Mark Holcomb
While far from perfect, Hitch is a rare studio product that earns the goodwill it smugly demands.
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70
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
But with all due respect to Smith, the movie--a performance piece with an unbelievable bare-bones plot--belongs to Kevin James.
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70
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Smith deserves a better romantic comedy than Hitch, but at least he somehow manages to improve the material around him.
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70
Washington Post Sean Daly
Hitch works best when it's a buddy comedy, with Smith and James having a blast as smooth Yoda and jiggly Jedi.
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67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
A date film with a hook for men.
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63
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Multiple lobotomies. That's the only way to explain what happens in the middle of Hitch, whose first hour sets up one of the brightest romantic comedies in months and whose second hour tears it down.
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63
Boston Globe Ty Burr
James has the forward drive of a trash-compacted Ralph Kramden with some of Ed Norton's random gentility and, here at least, he has a knack for fine-tuned physical comedy that gets you laughing even when the script's not there.
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63
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The premise is intriguing, and for a time it seems that the Date Doctor may indeed know things about women that most men in the movies are not allowed to know, but the third act goes on autopilot just when the Doctor should be in.
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63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The movie's last two minutes, in which they all do goofy dances and have no dialogue or script to get in their way, is easily the highlight. It's the previous 113 minutes of plot that cause problems.
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60
Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
The movie slides into slapstick at times, but it never overpowers the story.
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60
TV Guide Angel Cohn
But when it's funny, it's truly funny and the featured couples all have an easy and believable chemistry.
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60
Newsweek David Ansen
Andy Tennant's flimsy but generally likeable comedy is tailor-made for Smith's cheerfully suave comic style, and the movie goes out of its way to avoid any hint of sleaziness.
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60
The New York Times Dana Stevens
An average romantic comedy put together with enough professionalism to keep your cynicism momentarily at bay, featuring good-looking actors who also, in this case, seem like pretty nice people.
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58
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
For all its flaws, Hitch largely comes off as a light romp.
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50
Premiere Aaron Hillis
As the phrase turns, it's better when things come off WITHOUT a hitch.
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50
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Yet [Smith] can't keep the movie from stopping cold with another hour left to go.
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50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
To enjoy this film, it helps to check your brain at the box office.
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50
Variety Brian Lowry
Considerably heavier on romance than comedy, Hitch stitches together relatively few laughs but generates enough goodwill and energy.
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50
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Will Smith, taking a break from summer sci-fi smashfests, certainly shows a gift for modulation. Far from coasting, he plays a world expert at romance by ratcheting his charm up and down in supple, exacting degrees.
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50
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Will Smith has an easy charm, and this labored romantic farce works it hard. Too hard.
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50
Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
Buried somewhere in here, about 6 feet deep, is an intriguing premise.
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50
LA Weekly Chuck Wilson
The film moves in fits and starts, and is way too long, but it may prove memorable, if only for the sweet, marvelously inventive performance of Kevin James.
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50
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The movie, like Hitch, tries to be cool, funny and sweet but falls on its face without generating any real sympathy, smarts or humor.
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50
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Along with its try-anything-for-a-yuk screenplay, the worst thing about Hitch is its running time of almost two hours. Did the studio forget to edit this flimsy thing down?
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40
The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
An unwieldy, excessively talky affair, unintentionally exhibiting all the clunky stops and starts and self-conscious ramblings of a particularly awkward first date.
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40
Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
In the end, while both of these performers look great together, they really don't seem to belong together. And that's the biggest hitch in Hitch.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 63 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jared C. gave it a7:
Hitch is an amiable if rote romantic comedy that maximizes the charms of its quartet of leads. Unfortunately, the film mines most of its narrative ore from the tiresome notion that modern-day males are complete idiots, as mystified by the female gender as a coyote is by the moon. Will Smith did a marvelous job as the “Date Doctor,” and Kevin James had a fit presentation as well. The film kind of started out a little uncomfortable but enlarged its principles of thrust into a hysterically humorous romance tale. The last two minutes was a little off and beyond, but still Hitch was an exceptional depiction. The film never quit, the actors stood on board the whole shebang, and the humor just never gave up. I rate Hitch a 7 for two reasons, one fact that made this film a descent is because of its discomforting moments that seemed a little self-conscious, but the basis why I enjoyed it is because of the unpredictability. So uncommon in movies, that’s why Hitch I recommend. I expected less, but turns out that Hitch is one of my preferred and second-rate romantic comedies of the decade. Absolutely worth a try, prepared to be obsessed.

Jared B. gave it a10:
First of all, I'll just say that, except for the truly awful "Wild, Wild West," I have absolutely loved everything Will Smith has been in. "Hitch" was no exception. This was a refreshing, funny and sweet film. Will was perfectly cast as the "Date Doctor." Watching Kevin James totally screw everything up with Allegra was absolutely gut-bustingly funny. Eva Mendes is delightful as the woman who finally tames Hitch. Altogether a terrific movie.

Aly E. gave it a5:
I think the concept was excellent, but the screenplay is horrible. Kudos to Will Smith for doing the best he could with the weak script and co-star he had to work with. Eva is one of the worst actresses I've ever seen. She has zero depth and personality. It seemed unrealistic that Hitch would be even remotely interested in her, and that's where the story goes wrong for me. There's absolutely no chemistry between these two at all. I'm still trying to figure out what/how/why they fall in love... or was it just Hitch who falls in love ('cause we got no sense that the feeling was mutual for Sara, Eva's character). What really irked me was how the writers tried to give us some insight into why Sara was such a tight-a$$ in the relationship arena... something about her sister almost dying! Not because she'd been hurt in relatuonships before... Not because someone she loved actually died, but because he sister ALMOST died when they were kids! Can you believe that??? Then there's the boss in the beginning who's insisting that she needs to take a break because works too much one minute, but demanding that she get some crappy gossip article written ASAP the next. But, even that I could deal with more than Hitch's plea for forgiveness at the end and Sara's resistance. It should have been the other way around completely! I did not want to see these two together, which makes it a horrible romantic comedy. Albert and Allergra's love affair saved the movie.

jonathan gave it a10:
It was amizing i love will smith i wish i was like him peace out.

Luis V. gave it a2:
It has not even finished and it's already a 2 at the most, pure garbage.

Pat H gave it a10:
Hillarious, really good, and, oh yeah, hilarious!!!

Lyd gave it a7:
Will smith really makes an ordinary film into one that jus has to be noticed!

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