Plot: What’s it about?
You gotta love Will Smith. You just have to! The guy has many talents, staring out as a rapper from the streets of Philadelphia. He parlayed that into his own television show aptly titled “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and at the time Will Smith wasn’t Will Smith he was known as “The Fresh Prince” of his group, “DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince”. Ok, that’s a lot of words. But Smith does have real talent and realized it when he went main stream with “Bad Boys” with fellow bad boy Martin Lawrence. He snagged the lead in “Independence Day” which led to more blockbusters like “Men in Black”, “Enemy of the State” and “Ali”. Through all of his success as an actor, Smith hasn’t forgotten his musical roots and still continues to put out songs – though they’re more of the hip-hop nature as opposed to the rap he made famous in the late 80’s/90’s. One role Smith had yet to conquer (on the big screen) was comedy and romantic comedy at that. “Hitch” provided that opportunity and it was one of the few hits of the spring. Maybe we should paint a big “S” on his chest as there’s nothing he can’t do.
Smith plays Alex Hitchens (better known as “Hitch”). He’s a professional date doctor giving hope in the dating world for the men out there who don’t look like Brad Pitt. His angle is superficial, changing the wardrobe and vocabulary of his clients in order to get the women they desire. He merely opens the door, but the work is up to them. One of his latest projects is Albert (Kevin James), an accident-prone accountant who is infatuated with Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta), a wealthy heiress who has men in suits telling her how to run her life. This is one of the plots, but Hitch also meets up with Sara (Eva Mendes), and starts to date her. Naturally, he knows all of the tricks to swoon her, but she eventually finds out that he’s the “Date Doctor” and things fall apart. Will our hero be able to heed his own advice and reconcile with Sara and will the geek Albert get his girl? Hmmmmm….
I have to admit that I genuinely enjoyed “Hitch”. I usually don’t go for the romantic comedy “date” movies, but I saw this movie on a date so I guess it kind of served its purpose. Smith has great comedic timing, which we all know. Kevin James, the star of “The King of Queens” is obviously funny as well and Eva Mendes, in addition to being strikingly beautiful, shows that she can keep up with these two comedic heavyweights. Although I found “Hitch” to be somewhat predictable (aren’t all romantic comedies), getting to the end was half the fun. And, less we forget, one of the truest things that Smith’s character teaches us (and his clients) is that “Sixty percent of all human communication is non-verbal. Thirty percent is your tone. So that means that 90 percent of what you’re saying ain’t comin’ out of your mouth.” Think about that next time you’re on a date. I know I do.
Video: How does it look?
“Hitch” is shown in an MPEG-2 2.40:1 HD transfer that shows off New York in all its glory. I’m always in favor of presentations that make use of every inch of the screen and this is one of those. The transfer is just about what we’d expect for a day and date release as colors are bright and vivid throughout (consider Smith’s lime green “Izod” shirt in several scenes). Flesh tones seemed warm and natural without being overexposed. The Blu-ray transfer has bumped up the image a notch or so as compared to the standard DVD that came out last year. All in all, this is a great-looking transfer, as one might expect.
Audio: How does it sound?
Audio wise, the uncompressed PCM soundtrack is the standard offering here. There’s no real chance for the soundtrack to shine as it’s relegated to some surround effects and dialogue. There are some scenes in a nightclub which sound pretty good, but aside from those instances (which are few and far between), it’s a bit more robust than the standard 5.1 mix (also on the disc) but this was never really a movie that favored heavy audio. Take it for what it’s worth, but “Hitch” sounds as good as it ever has which is above average at best.
Supplements: What are the extras?
“Hitch” was one of the inagural Blu-ray titles when the format launched in June of 2006 and the disc looks to not even have all of the supplements that were on the standard DVD. The “Dating Experts” they take some real experts and analyze how the characters were doing and if they were conforming up to “real” dating behavior. There’s also a “Dance Steps Made Easy” featurette in which we all learn how to dance just like Kevin Smith. “Hitch” is a very entertaining movie that now looks and sounds better than its standard DVD counterpart, but some of the extras didn’t make the cut. A gag reel is also included. The thing is do you want supplements or better picture and sound?
