Hitch

Hollywood LOVES a romantic comedy with star-crossed lovers and Hitch is no exception. This time, rather than the offspring of enemies (ala Romeo and Juliet) or professional rivals (You’ve Got Mail), the “Date Doctor”, who takes his work and confidentiality agreements very seriously, (Pay attention to that one!! It's a spoiler!! *insert eye roll here*) meets a gossip columnist. Once again, we are given a regurgitated romantic comedy involving a conflict about someone not revealing the truth, the apologetic “take me back” plea, and ultimate forgiveness. (yawn) Go figure.

Alex “Hitch” Hitchins (Will Smith) makes a living advising men on what to do to get a foot in the door and get a woman to like him, no matter how big a loser he is. Hitch is smooth, suave, and debonair, and his tricks seem to work. When he meets Sara (Eva Mendes), using his typical charm and connections, he is swept off of his feet in the process of sweeping Sara off of hers. Unfortunately, one of his clients is dating an heiress (ala Paris Hilton, but with 500 thousand times more class) with Hitch’s assistance, and Sara finds out through her work (because she is the best there is, of course!!) who he really is. She kicks her career into high gear, forgets the fact that she likes this guy, there is the confrontation, and the plea, and the happily ever after.

The movie was a nice little story. Kevin James was by far the best part, and most of the funny parts are revealed in the trailer. The premise of the movie was the embarrassing truth about first dates, how everyone is insecure and over thinks things that may not even matter to the opposite sex, and the lesson of “just be yourself”. Although it was a very common story, it was a cute movie.

Hide and Seek

Fresh out of Horror Movie Making for Dummies, Hide and Seek promises to be creepy and scary, but does not deliver. The movie stars Robert DiNiro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue, and the shortest performace by Amy Irving since The Rage: Carrie 2, which, I dare say, was equally as disappointing.

David (DiNiro), a child psychologist, and Allison (Irving) have a daughter, Emily (Fanning), and after Allison has an accident and dies, David moves his daughter to the country where she meets "Charlie", her new imaginary friend. Emily and Charlie play games, and one of their favorites is "Hide and Seek". Her only real friend is Katherine (Janssen), who is not only her therapist, but a former protege of David's. For some reason, the filmmakers decided to dye Fanning's hair black, I suppose to make her more gothic-looking, but they only succeeded in making her look more like Janssen's daughter than Irving's, a point which is never revealed in the ending of the movie.

The regurgitation of movies prior (at the risk of spoiling the movie, I'll stand mute) is prevalent and the viewer experiences a bit of deja-movie ("I've seen this movie before..."), but the worst part of the movie is when you find out who Charlie is, you have to sit through the last 35 minutes trying to figure out how they're going to take care of him. The sub-plot of the neighbors with the cancer-ridden daughter who died and looks like a bald Dakota Fanning is a dud in that they never really elaborate on anything, so one can only assume it's just designed to throw the viewer off of Charlie's real identity.

To the writer's creativity and originality, I have to say, "Please, next time, "come out come out wherever you are"."