Hitch
Directed by	Andy Tennant
Produced by	James Lassiter Will Smith Teddy Zee
Written by	Kevin Bisch
Starring	Will Smith Eva Mendes Kevin James
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	February 11, 2005
Running time	118 min
Language	English
Budget	$70,000,000
IMDb profile

Hitch is a 2005 romantic comedy film, directed by Andy Tennant.

Plot summary

Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (played by Will Smith) is a professional "date doctor", who coaches other men in the art of wooing women.

While coaching one of his clients, Albert (played by Kevin James), who is smitten with celebrity Allegra Cole (played by Amber Valletta), Hitch finds himself falling for Sara (played by Eva Mendes), a gossip columnist who is determined to unmask and ruin the so-called date doctor after a man he gave advise to used it to get a one-night-stand with her best friend. However, where Albert and Allegra's relationship continues to progress, Hitch finds that none of his tried and tested methods are working on himself, despite being a master of the art. After Hitch is unmasked, he and Sara break up, and Allegra and Albert follow suit (along with other women who realize their husbands had been coached by Hitch). Finally, Hitch confronts Allegra and convinces her to reunite with Albert, before reconciling with Sara. In the end Albert and Allegra get married and celebrate their marriage with Hitch and Sara get back together again.

Cast

• Will Smith — Alex "Hitch" Hitchens
• Eva Mendes — Sara Melas
• Kevin James — Albert Brennaman
• Amber Valletta — Allegra Cole
• Robinne Lee — Cresida

Racial casting issues and predicted box office sales

Disclosed during a press release with Birmingham Post, for fear of offending or detracting certain audiences, Will Smith stated the compromise behind why Cuban descent Eva Mendes was selected to opposite star, as opposed to a white or African-American woman. [1] Apparently, a black/black couple film would disinterest world audiences, while a black/white couple film would offend American audiences.

Trivia

Hitch (left) gives Albert romantic advice.

The two male leads are best known for starring in sitcoms with "royalty" names. Smith starred on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which ran from 1990 to 1996. James is Doug Heffernan on The King of Queens. A fan of James' show, Smith suggested James for Albert.

Eva Mendes' character was originally offered to Indian actress and supermodel Aishwarya Rai, but the latter could not take the role due to scheduling problems.

Allegra Cole is a reference to the fictional Esquire model Allegra Coleman, "played" by Ali Larter.

James' dance sequences mostly ad-libbed. Even Smith didn't know what dances James would perform (revealed in the "Dance Steps Made Easy" featurette of the DVD).

The original title of the movie was The Last First Kiss, referring a line Hitch delivers to Albert: "This could be her last first kiss." This title was used throughout most of the shoot.

Mendes also appeared in Smith's video of "Miami".

The movie was the tenth-highest grossing film of 2005, and broke the record for best opening weekend for a romantic-comedy film.

The DVD release was one of the first movies to employ Sony's ARccOS copy protection. Also available on UMD (Universal Media Disc) for the Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable).

Parts of the movie were filmed in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, at Columbia University.

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Hitch (film)

• 2005 in film

External links

• Official site
• Hitch at the Internet Movie Database
• Hitch at Rotten Tomatoes
• Score
• Hitch at Box Office Mojo