Hitch (2005)

Above-average for the romcom genre, or it is for at least an hour -- the first half of the film is silly and contrived but it does have a sharp sense of itself and the enormous charisma benefit one gets from casting Will Smith, plus there's some occasional actual wit (the first scene between Smith and uber-hot Eva Mendes is as well-played a volley of words as anything out of Toback, if not quite Mamet). But what is to be done with the film's second half? Like most romcoms, it tries to get all dramatic on us, but the sheer volume of contrivance that it takes to create the conflict in this film's conflict-resolution arc has to stretch the credibility of even the most forgiving chick-flick devotee. If only there was a way to amputate all of this film's superfluous limbs, we might have a neat featurette.

Grade: C