Hitch

I was part of an enthusiastic audience viewing this short at a recent screening in the Maryland Film Festival in Baltimore. It provides an interesting study of two young confederates who (at first) cooperate in a day of dangerous-driving-for-sexual adventure. Tension builds as the characters' recklessness is increasingly displayed. Competitive disharmony emerges and causes a break between them; they "unhitch" when a line is crossed, with one of them moving into darker territory- perhaps of the "unhinged". Something like fear is glimpsed in the other, and her withdrawal from the game brings the film back from a very dark edge. I look forward to more work from these young filmmakers.

Will Smith in "Hitch", a pleasant little romance, but really not much of a movie. First time screenwriter, Kevin Bisch, has cobbled together a bunch of clichés and the movies funniest moments are given away in the TV commercials, but somehow you forgive it all because Will Smith looks so damn comfortable on the screen. He and Kevin James work very well together, but the romantic interests is Revlon Model Eva Mendes, who is very easy on the eye but is nothing but an embarrassment as an actress.The female lead should have been former Calvin Klein model Amber Valletta, who plays Kevin James' love interest. She and Smith had some real chemistry in the one scenes they share together, but Mendes was in Will Smith's "Miami" video, so we can only guess how she got the job. The real shock is director Andy Tennant, who has made nothing but crap up until now, and he was a dancer in the Bee Gee's "Sgt. Pepper" movie, which has nothing to do with anything, but I do think he should be made fun of for it. The DVD offers little in the way of interesting extras: a deleted scene where Mendes flashes people on the ferry, Kevin James improving a dance routine and your standard blooper reel. Not a full blown chick flick, but "Hitch" is definitely a date movie, you have been warned.