This weekend I went to see the romantic comedy “Hitch“. “It might be okay” I said as my girlfriend dragged me by my hair, “as long as they don’t use too much slapstick comedy.” That’s a big problem with modern comedies. I mean, slapstick is fine. But in every movie? And so much in every movie? It just makes you want to slap the writers/producers/directors.

Pleasantly, the movie was actually quite enjoyable. “Hitch” was quite refreshing. It seemed unique, and original. I mean, unique and original in the “it’s still a Hollywood romantic comedy film” way. It had an interesting and unique premise, and the characters seemed reasonably well written. (That is, for a Hollywood romantic comedy.) In fact, as far as Hollywood romantic comedies go, I think it’s one of the best.

As I was sitting in the theatre, the movie was nearing the end. When we were 75% way through the movie, the proverbially shit hit the proverbial fan as is want to do in, dare I say it again, Hollywood romantic movies. The usual misunderstanding happens, and the characters make blindly poor choices. The last scene was over the top (not to mention in the slapstick comedy section), seemed pointless, resolved the situation, and gave us our kiss and happy ending. To be honest, I’m glad the misunderstanding-resolution section of this Hollywood romantic comedy was so short. It wasn’t without any redeeming value, but even if it had to be done, they didn’t have to follow the Hollywood romantic comedy rules so well. (Who wrote these rules, anyway?)

The misunderstanding was, in fact, understandable. But did it have to go down the whole route? This movie could have been a really good Hollywood romantic movie. But instead, they did the full blown misunderstanding-resolution in the usual over done way. Things go far to far. I, personally, didn’t feel that it was necessary to make things get so out of hand in the movie. In fact, my girlfriend and I rewrote the ending of the film afterwards, and agreed it would have been a more interesting, if shorter, film.

Over all, I think the movie is a good one. But a small change would have made it much better. It was different enough to be refreshing, but at the same time, similar enough not to stand out too much. I’m glad I went. Not that I can complain. I used $16 worth of coupons, making the trip for two, including snacks, cost less than one regular ticket price.

Non-artistic ratings:

Rating scale:
None -> low -> moderate -> medium -> high -> over done