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Hitch (film)

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Hitch
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndy Tennant
Written byKevin Bisch
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAndrew Dunn
Edited by
  • Troy Takaki
  • Tracey Wadmore-Smoth
Music byGeorge Fenton
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • February 11, 2005 (2005-02-11) (United States)
Running time
118 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$55-70 million[1][2]
Box office$371.6 million[2]

Hitch is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant and starring Will Smith in the title role, along with Eva Mendes, Kevin James, and Amber Valletta. The film, which was written by Kevin Bisch, features Smith as Alex "Hitch" Hitchens, a professional "date doctor" who makes a living teaching men how to woo women. Unfortunately, while helping his latest client woo the woman of his dreams, he finds out that his game does not work on the gossip columnist with whom he is smitten.

Columbia Pictures released Hitch on February 11, 2005. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box office hit, grossing $371.6 million worldwide, becoming the tenth highest-grossing film of 2005.

Plot

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Alex "Hitch" Hitchens is a professional "date doctor" who coaches other men in the art of wooing women, with the main focus of having genuine long-term relationships. He is very successful at what he does.

While coaching one of his clients, Albert Brennaman—who is smitten with a client of his investment firm, celebrity Allegra Cole—Hitch finds himself falling for Sara Melas, a gossip columnist and cynical workaholic. While Albert and Allegra's relationship progresses, Hitch has difficulty connecting with Sara as none of his romantic methods work for her. Throughout the entire process, he keeps his career secret, claiming to be a generic "consultant".

Hitch meets with Vance Munson, a shallow misogynist attempting to get Hitch to help him land a one-night stand with Casey Sedgewick, Sara's coworker and best friend. Although Hitch refuses to help, Vance smugly misleads her into believing that he has used Hitch's services. After finding out Hitch's true identity, Sara publishes an exposé, causing Albert to vandalize a newsstand in rage and get arrested, Allegra to break up with Albert, and Hitch's reputation to suffer.

At a speed dating event that Hitch sneaks into, Sara and Casey confront him and cite Vance as their source. Hitch explains that not only did he refuse to work with him but also the extent to which women must protect themselves from men like Vance unintentionally makes establishing genuine relationships with good men difficult enough to create a demand for Hitch's services.

After receiving some criticism from Albert about treating love as a job instead of a legitimate feeling, Hitch then tries to salvage Albert and Allegra's relationship by confronting her. When she mentions how Albert's quirks won her over, Hitch realizes he does not do anything significant besides giving his clients confidence and allowing them to get the attention of the women they love. And most of his customers, particularly Albert, really were successful by just being themselves. Allegra reconciles with Albert, and Hitch and Sara repair their relationship.

Albert and Allegra get married. During the reception, Casey gives the Heimlich maneuver to an elderly woman who is choking on a grape, which endears her to the woman's attractive grandson (it is revealed the elderly woman was working with Hitch). A dance party then begins with Albert, Allegra, Sara, and Hitch, which ends with Albert accidentally ripping his pants open to do the splits.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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The working title of the film was The Last First Kiss,[3] referring to a line that Hitch delivers to Albert, "Tomorrow night Allegra Cole could have her last first kiss."

Smith has said that actress Eva Mendes, a Latina, was offered the female lead because the producers were worried about the public's reaction if the part was played by a white actress, creating a studio fear of a potential interracial taboo, or a black actress, creating a studio fear that two black leads would alienate the white audiences. It was believed that a Latina and a black lead would sidestep the issue.[4] Patton Oswalt was considered for the role of Albert Brennaman.[5]

Filming

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Filming took place between March and July 2004. Parts of the film were filmed in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, at Columbia University, at Ellis Island, in the Fulton Fish Market, at the Wall Street Bull and the North Cove Marina.[6]

The production budget was $55–70 million.[1][4][2]

Release

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Box office

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Hitch was theatrically released on February 11, 2005. Sony expected the film to open to $35 million,[7] but the film performed above expectations, opening to $43,142,214.[2] The film secured the highest opening weekend for a romantic comedy film, surpassing 50 First Dates.[8] This record would last three years until Sex and the City opened in 2008.[9] With a total gross of $7.5 million, the film hold the record for having the highest mid-week Valentine's Day gross until 2012 when The Vow surpassed it.[10] It spent three consecutive weeks at the number 1 position in the North American box office.[2] Its worldwide box office take totaled $371.6 million, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 2005 and the third highest-grossing romantic comedy film, after My Big Fat Greek Wedding and What Women Want.[11]

Home media

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The film was released on June 14, 2005, on VHS and DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.[1] It was one of the first films to employ Sony's ARccOS Protection copy protection.[citation needed] The film was also available on UMD (Universal Media Disc) for the Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable).[12]

Reception

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Critical response

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 69% based on 188 reviews, and an average review of 6.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Despite Hitch's predictability, Will Smith and Kevin James win praise for their solid, warmhearted performances."[13] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[15]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "The premise is intriguing, and for a time it seems that the Date Doctor may indeed know things about women that most men in the movies are not allowed to know, but the third act goes on autopilot just when the Doctor should be in."[16] Brian Lowry of Variety wrote: "Considerably heavier on romance than comedy, Hitch stitches together relatively few laughs but generates enough goodwill and energy."[17]

Remake

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The film was remade in Hindi as Partner in 2007, which also incurred a lawsuit against the film's producers Sohail Khan and Parag Sanghvi, by Sony Pictures for copyright infringement. It was solved after Sony Pictures acquired the world's exclusive satellite rights of the film.

Music

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Hitch Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
ReleasedSeptember 20, 2005 (2005-09-20)
Studio
  • Larrabee North Recording Studios, Los Angeles, CA
  • Luminous Sound, Dallas, TX
  • Magnet Vision Studios, Santa Monica, CA
  • Morning View Studios, Malibu, CA
  • Sony Music Studios, New York, NY
  • Stewchia, Los Feliz, CA
  • The Dungeon, Dungeon East Recording Studios, Atlanta, GA
GenreR&B, funk, soul
Length49:10
LabelColumbia Records

Hitch: The Soundtrack was released on September 20, 2005, by Columbia Records.[18] The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard Soundtrack Albums chart and No. 35 on the Billboard 200 chart.[19][20]

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack features artists such as Amerie, Kelly Rowland, Sleepy Brown, Big Boi, Earth, Wind & Fire, Mark Ronson, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Omarion, The O Jays, John Legend, The Temptations, Jimmy Cliff and Kevin Lyttle.[18]

No.TitlePerformerLength
1."1 Thing"Amerie4:02
2."Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing"John Legend4:46
3."This Is How I Feel"Sleepy Brown, Big Boi, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kelly Rowland4:13
4."Ooh Wee"Mark Ronson3:30
5."Now That We've Found Love"Heavy D and the Boyz4:19
6."Happy"Joe Smith3:54
7."Love Train"The O'Jays2:59
8."I Can't Get Next to You"The Temptations2:45
9."You Can Get It If You Really Want"Jimmy Cliff2:40
10."It's Easy to Fall in Love With a Guy Like You"Martha Reeves and the Vandellas2:18
11."Reasons"Earth, Wind & Fire5:01
12."Never Gonna Let You Go (She's a Keepa)"Omarion3:37
13."Turn Me On"Kevin Lyttle5:06
Total length:49:10

Rob Theakston of AllMusic gave the album a three out of five star rating noting that it "features a brilliant survey of soul and R&B over the past three decades." He also proclaimed "while the new tracks are impressive and enjoyable, it's this combination that makes Hitch an enjoyable listen, with something for everyone -- regardless of age -- to enjoy."[21]

TV show

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On October 22, 2014, it was announced that Overbrook Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television began work on a television series adaptation inspired by the film for Fox.[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Hitch (2005) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Hitch (2005)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  3. ^ Highfill, Samantha (April 25, 2014). "High-profile movies that changed their names". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Walls, Jeannette (February 23, 2005). "Was race an issue in Hitch casting?". Today.com. Retrieved October 8, 2021. it was feared that a black couple would have put off worldwide audiences whereas a white/African American combo would have offended viewers in the U.S.
  5. ^ Evans, Bradford (December 8, 2011). "The Lost Roles of Patton Oswalt". Vulture.com.
  6. ^ "Hitch (2005)". movie-locations.com. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  7. ^ Gray, Brandon (February 14, 2005). "'Hitch' Scores Romantic Comedy Record". Box Office Mojo.
  8. ^ Karger, Dave (February 13, 2005). "Hitch wins hearts, breaks records". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
  9. ^ Santaella, Tony (June 1, 2008). ""Sex and the City" Tops "Indiana Jones" at Box Office". wltx.com.
  10. ^ "'The Vow' Sets Mid-Week Valentine's Day Record As Box Office Up Big, Big, Big". February 15, 2012.
  11. ^ Sollosi, Mary (July 21, 2022). "The 15 highest-grossing rom-coms of all time". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  12. ^ "Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) to Release 19 Film Titles on PSP™ UMD™ FORMAT". GamesIndustry.biz. June 16, 2005. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  13. ^ "Hitch". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  14. ^ "Hitch reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  15. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  16. ^ Ebert, Roger (February 10, 2005). "Hitch Movie Review & Film Summary (2005)". www.rogerebert.com.
  17. ^ Lowry, Brian (February 4, 2005). "Hitch". Variety.
  18. ^ a b Various Artists: Hitch Soundtrack. Columbia Records. February 2005.
  19. ^ "Hitch: The Soundtrack (Soundtrack Albums)". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021.
  20. ^ "Hitch (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021.
  21. ^ Theakston, Rob. "Hitch: Original Soundtrack". AllMusic.
  22. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 22, 2014). "'Hitch' Comedy Series In Works At Fox". Deadline.com. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
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