Barnes & Noble

In blockbusters from Bad Boys to Independence Day, the Men in Black movies, and I Robot, Will Smith has made a handsome living as a big-budget action hero. But the erstwhile Fresh Prince truly plays to his strong hand in this ingeniously plotted romantic comedy. Smith portrays Alex Hitchens, the self-proclaimed “date doctor” who, for a fee, advises socially awkward single men in affairs of the heart. One of his greatest challenges will be coaching klutzy accountant Albert (Kevin James of TV's King of Queens), who has a major crush on his firm’s biggest client, globe-trotting heiress Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta). Complicating matters is Hitch’s burgeoning relationship with Sara (Eva Mendes), a tabloid reporter who’s sworn to expose the anonymous date doctor as a fraud -- without realizing that her new boyfriend is the guy she’s looking for. Director Andy Tennant (Ever After) very wisely gives his principal players lots of leeway, which pays off in some genuinely hysterical moments -- many of them contributed by James, who comes perilously close to stealing the picture away from its top-billed star. His shy, overweight accountant is a tremendously endearing character, and even if it seems unlikely that he’ll ever get to first base with leggy, luscious Valletta, we can’t help rooting for him. The Smith-Mendes matchup, oddly enough, doesn’t seem quite as interesting; this could be a flaw of the script, which makes Hitch a personable but aloof character whose machinations aren’t always on the up-and-up. Fortunately, the whole amounts to more than the sum of its parts, and by the time the predictable happy ending has been reached, there won’t be many viewers who haven’t been grandly entertained. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

A man who teaches dateless wonders how to become irresistible to women learns just how hard it can be to do it yourself in this romantic comedy. When a guy in New York City wants to make the right impression with a certain lady, Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) is the man he calls. Hitch has made a career out of coordinating a man's first three dates so that they'll show him to his best advantage (for a price, of course), and more than a few have taken women to the altar they first started courting with Hitch's help. But Hitch discovers his own romantic limitations when he falls for Sara (Eva Mendes), a journalist who has her own ideas about romance, and might just expose Hitch's underground business to the world. In the midst of all this, Hitch has his hands full with Albert, a sweet but socially inept man who has enlisted Hitch's services. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 043396114883
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:58:00
• Sales Rank: 43,705

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Hitch / Bewitched (2005)

Features: