Hitch 2005 (Blog #2- The Perfect Mix of Romance and Comedy)

Hitch Movie Poster

Growing up, I seemed to have watched every single Will Smith movie that was out, except Hitch.  After recently seeing it for the first time, I am willing to admit I messed up on not watching it sooner. I mean, how did I miss a romantic comedy that happens to be pulled off so well starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes, and Kevin James? I'm so glad however, that I watched it now,  in this time of my life where I view and critique things much more than I could've in 2005 when the movie aired.

Alex Hitchin's is a dating professional. His profession involves secretly helping men get into relationships with women who otherwise may not have ever noticed them. He also always intends to help the men stay in the relationships. The process Hitch goes through involves careful attention to details of the women's life and interests to help make "natural" situations in which the man and the women fall in love.

There is a bromance/ romance that is equal in measure throughout the whole movie. Two plots essentially intertwined and meshed together. Hitch meets Albert Brennamen, who is an extremely awkward, bubbly man who is helplessly in love with the rich and famous client of his investment firm, Allegra Cole. While the task seems almost impossible we watch as Hitch helps Albert win over  the woman of his dreams.

During this process, Hitch becomes drawn to a busy gossip columnist, Sara Melas, who is not the least bit interested in love.  Sara is a career driven women who doesnt let anyone get in her way.  Hitch and Sara confide in eachother and let their vulberability about love out to each other. Somewhere between, jet skiing, kicking her in the head, reminding her of her murderer great grandfather,  an allergic reaction, and a whole lot of  Benadryl Sara and Hitch admittedly have fallen for each other.

Sara, however, is focused on finding the latest drama to stay on her bosses good side, with latest drama being the fact that Allegra Cole is being caught around the city with Albert Brennamen, who clearly doesn't fit society's standards.  After realizing the so-called "dating doctor" is Hitch she sets out to expose his services to the public and break things off with him, feeling scammed by a con artist with cheesy pick up lines. Simultaneously, things between Albert and Allegra are over because of the scandalous report.

Ending scene at Albert and Allegra's wedding. Everyones dancing and happy 

Hitch ends up going to confront Sara on her actions informing her that he only tries to give men the confidence they need to pursue a woman they respect and want to be with. He explains to her than he wouldn't work with the source who she had gotten her information from (which we will get to in a minute) was someone he wouldn't work with because the man was only interested in sex. He then attempts to save Allegra and Alberts relationship telling Allegra the truth and finding out that Allegra liked Albert for all the thing Hitch told him not to do. The film ends with Hitch begging for Sara back and like a true romantic comedy, happily ever after takes place.

This movie is for sure funny in some areas, but I really got a more serious vibe from this rom-com than some of the others I have watched before. 

Here are some of my favorite funny scenes throguhtout the movie: 

Hitch is helping Albert get comfortable with the upcoming kiss with Allegra. He explains the guy should go in 90% and let the women go in the rest of the 10%.

Hitch has a food allergy which causes his entire face to blow up into an allergic reaction. Sara takes care of him the rest of the night as he is high on a bottle of Benadryl.

Albert is showing Hitch his dance movie, claiming he has nothing to worry about when it comes to dancing. " You just need a little bit of this, that's it!" 

Gender equality? 

Gender and social equality always comes into question with romantic comedies. For your typical romantic comedies you often times will see a very familiar and very similar plot from movie to movie or even book to book. But something about them is great enough to continuously pull us back in every time.

One thing I found pretty interesting was the fact that I didn't feel like this romantic comedy was made predominantly for a female audience, which is typically the norm. I thought this movie would appeal to a lot of couples in general and while the film appears to be trying to wow a female audience by endearing them to the men presented as gentlemen, we also rely heavliy on a male perspective regarding relationships and dating.  

It was really nice to see a scene that a man condemns another man for being driven by shallow impulses. The source that Sara went mentioned above is a prospective client named Vance. Let me put this in the best way I know how (skip past if you don't like harsh language)  

VANCE  IS A PIECE OF SHIT! Dont believe me? 

Here is the restaurant scene where we FIRST meet Vance.. Enough said. 

  

In this scene we see Hitch really show that he is serious about what he does and is passionate about helping men be with women for love, not for sex. Which is definitely a great message and admittedly- I thought it was kinda hot to see a man act like that towards another man, reguarding the saftey and care of a woman. 

Now if we look deeper into this movie, deeper than the general fact that it's a rom-com and does a great job at being a rom-com, it can get ugly pretty fast.  Because this movie is still fresh for me being this was my first time watching it, I am able to put aside some of my feelings for young Will Smith and get to the root of things. Its arguable that this is a 2 hour movie about the realization that women aren't rocket science problems that are impossible to figure out, but are in fact humans who take a liking to honesty and having their own opinions and thoughts. The outer layer of the movie, which is really intriguing, is something one can easily be fooled by. 

Sara, chugging the wine before she throws the vegetables at Hitch.  

Another complaint I have regarding our lead female character, Sara, is how she is painted out to be a villain. Though played as a "power woman" she is also the typical "love skeptic" whose eyes have to be opened by a man to realize she might be wrong...  And as much as Sara worked so hard for her job and wanted respect, the most her coworkers did was cared about her love life... including her boss!  She also has a gay co-worker who does nothing the entire movie except get in her case about having a boyfriend. Her best friend (which is again, very typical for these rom-com movies) is seemingly convinced that she won't be successful in her life until she has found love. And then we have our high class woman,  the only other woman that is shown in this movie more than one time, who NEEDED the love doctor to help her notice the lower class man who is seemingly perfect for her. This is just overall frustrating, three beautiful, powerful women, being told or thinking they need a man to somehow complete them. But hey, it wouldn't be a romance movie if it wasn't doing these things.  

I think that it was messed up to portray Sara as such a childish character throughout some parts of the movie. Of course she would get an inaccurate assumptions that Hitch had done something to hurt her friend and she, though portrayed as a smart woman, goes about this in an incredibly immature way. Honestly, the scene where she is throwing vegetables and throwing a child-like fit about all of it in his home was  uncomfortable to watch. I just kept thinking about the ways Hollywood portrays women: women know that all men are just liars and they won't tell the truth anyways. And of course- in the middle of her well planned tactic to go to his house and make a fool of herself, Hitch is there to calm her down and ask her is she had a bad day. This part of the movie really seemed to suggest that even when you're wrong about your assumptions you can still be justified in acting out on men based on the fact that they're men and they're evil.  And lets not forgot they added the typical "cry on the couch eating watching a romantic movie" scene for her to do to just to add to the stereotypical ways of a romantic comedy movie. 

Part of Hitch's rousing speech in the speed dating room to Sara.

There is also a point where Hitch is trying to prove himself to Sara in a rousing speech claiming no woman would respond to a man who walks up to her saying " I like you" as the crowd of men around him agree. It is a condemn towards women for not instantly falling into a mans arms if he has feelings for her. This, is not respectful towards women as people. Placing my personal opinion and life in here quick: My fiance walked up to me 6 years ago and told me he liked me... so this scene is a little too much for me to just ride along with. With that being said, no woman should have to be tricked or conned into falling in love. 

Obviously, my issues with this movie were those of gender inequality. I am forcing myself to remember that gender roles can be exaggerated at times and in films such as this one, it is expected and almost always generally accepted for a woman to be won over by the male. I think however, it is important to note than women can and do make their own decisions in the society we live in today and men do not need anyone to tell them how to "win a girl over". I think that taking a deeper look into productions moving forward will help to see the true importances of gender and the society we live in and how it matches with what we are watching. I also think it is important to be able to see the differences and point out the not-so-good things hollywood does to portray genders.  

Hitch could appeal to a variety of ages and audience members. I think that overall the movie has a light-heartedness with a deeper romantic vibe and it really isn't the worst thing. Keeping in mind that romantic comedies can sometimes be a little similar to one another- this one doesn't disappoint when you're looking for one of those good, old fashioned romance movies with a little bit of laughter. 

Sources: 

Hitch and Sara dancing GIF https://media.giphy.com/media/3ohzdCFBY1uYLpOv5K/giphy.gif

Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H42jVUavXiA

Hitch and Albert kissing: https://fierce.wearemitu.com/entertainment/13-reasons-why-hitch-starring-eva-mendes-had-the-best-formula-for-a-romantic-comedy-of-all-time/ 

Hitchs allergic reaction: https://blog.fauquierent.net/2012/01/food-allergy-reaction-video.html 

Albert dancing for Hitch: https://coub.com/view/13lkbe

This is exactly why falling in love is https://tenor.com/view/hitch-will-smith-gif-8926077

Sara chugging wine: https://fierce.wearemitu.com/entertainment/13-reasons-why-hitch-starring-eva-mendes-had-the-best-formula-for-a-romantic-comedy-of-all-time/

I read this and found it pretty amusing and interesting. Check it out if you want! https://fierce.wearemitu.com/entertainment/13-reasons-why-hitch-starring-eva-mendes-had-the-best-formula-for-a-romantic-comedy-of-all-time/