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Hitch
Reviewed By Madelyn Miller, the TravelLady

Will Smith (l) and Kevin James star in Columbia Pictures’ romantic comedy Hitch. Photo credit: Barry Wetcher.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Director Andy Tennant says he’s always wanted to shoot a film entirely in New York, after having shot portions of Fools Rush In and Sweet Home Alabama in Manhattan. “New York is the perfect place to film a movie about dating, being on your game and in your 30s,” he says.

“New York is where people go to become successful, to be rich and make their lives better,” says Smith. “At the center of all that energy is love, but it’s often overlooked.”

Production on Hitch began last spring in the trendy Soho bistro Balthazar. Tennant chose to shoot much of the film downtown, in areas rarely seen in movies.

The story’s nexus is Manhattan’s meatpacking district near 14th Street, which contains many of the city’s hippest and most lively nightspots. Several key scenes were shot at the “Amp Lounge,” which is loosely based on the exclusive real-life Soho House.

“There are about 74 different locations in this movie,” according to executive producer Michael Tadross, whose is no stranger to New York films, having worked on Die Hard with a Vengeance and The Thomas Crown Affair. “That’s more than I have ever had in 24 years of doing this.”

Chic up-to-the-minute locations were Pop Burger and Little Pie Company in the meatpacking district. For some of the more romantic scenes that Hitch recommends to his clients, the filmmakers shot in Central Park and Ellis Island the historic entry point for immigrants to the United States, which has unparalleled views of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. It is on Ellis Island that Tennant shot Hitch and Sara’s first date. Now part of the National Park Service, Ellis Island is where immigrants from all over the world first stepped on American soil from 1892 until 1954.

One of the few changes the production was allowed to make to the Ellis Island museum was the addition of some set dressing in the main hall — display cases containing ship manifests that were part of the scene. The production put up signs indicating that the manifests were movie props of no historic value, but still, tourists (the museum remained open during filming) were fascinated, taking pictures of them anyway. The display cases were then donated to the museum. The fake manifests were not.

Another sequence that brought the new and old of New York together was shot at the Fulton Fish Market in Lower Manhattan, when Sara brings Hitch to a cooking class held in a corner of the fabled market. “Sara’s a gossip columnist, so she always knows what’s happening and where to go,” explains Musky. “Sara brings Hitch to this place, which is very special in that not a lot of people know about it, which impresses him because it means she actually knows more about the social scene than he does.”

Not that Hitch is a slouch. Far from it. He lives in his “command center,” a decorator-designed apartment located in a real Tribeca loft. It is here that he orchestrates his clients’ idealized dates. Says Musky, “Kind of like a painter, he jumps around. He has a magnetic board to set up the dates, a blackboard on which he writes down thoughts and a computer nearby for research. He has all the latest technology at his fingertips, and just as importantly, the best chocolates.”

Hitch’s command center is composed of panes of glass filled with argon gas. “He pushes a button and an electric charge passes through the glass,” the production designer explains. “It activates the argon, which becomes cloudy, frosty. In an instant, the transparent glass wall becomes opaque, ensuring Hitch the privacy that he needs, so that no one will learn that his clients needed professional help to meet the women of their dreams” — which would be fatal to his thriving business.

Hitch is a hip New Yorker, who is always pulled together, but is very casual about it. While many of Smith’s clothes were custom-made for the athletically built actor, Stewart also dressed him in some designer-wear. “We used some Etro jackets, some Prada, some Gucci,” she says. “And we tried to push the envelope a little bit in terms of color — lavenders and pinks, with seersucker — what you’d see on a well-dressed man in Milan.”

Clothes are in fact an important part of Hitch’s work since he grooms his clients in preparation for their big dates. “Part of the movie is extreme make-over,” says Stewart. “Most of the guys in the movie start to look like Hitch at a certain point. For example, when we first see Albert, the accountant who hires Hitch in order to win the love of a gorgeous heiress, he is wearing a rather loud green gabardine suit with white socks — a common faux pas. After some coaching from Hitch, Albert becomes more fashionable, darker clothes, a smart part of jeans.”

One particular scene that had the crew in stitches was one during which the character of Albert shows Hitch his own particular style of dancing. “Most men think they’re doing a good job when they’re out on the dance floor,” says James, “but I’d say nine times out of ten, it’s a car wreck — a really bad car wreck. Still, they’re out there thinking, ‘she’s really digging this!’”

But even the comedic scenes contribute to the story’s underlying themes. “The thing about this story is that it’s incredibly easy for anyone to relate to the characters’ problems,” says Zee. “And when they overcome them, there’s this sense of relief. It gives us hope for romance and love in our own lives.” That could be in part because Hitch’s dating philosophy has a ring of reality to it, says Lassiter. “The way Hitch sees it, you only get one shot at a first kiss,” he says. “And he’s right. Your first shot has to be your best shot.”

“One thing that I would hope that guys in the audience will pick up on is the level of effort Hitch puts into pleasing a woman,” adds Smith. “It takes 16 hours a day, five days a week to be a carpenter or a doctor or a basketball player. So how do you think you’re every going to sustain the most valuable relationship in your life if you don’t put any time and energy into it?”

And it’s not only the men in the audience who will relate to the film’s central themes, says Mendes. “As Americans, we take classes on everything except some of the most important things like parenting and dating and relationships. I think girls will want a Hitch for themselves — to teach them, to give them guidance.”

In the end, however, it’s not Hitch’s lessons about cool clothes, home decorating and fashionable nightspots that win the day — though they don’t hurt. “When all is said and done,” concludes Tennant, “the film is about presenting the best part of you, about not being afraid to show your foibles and flaws and anything else that makes you unique, that makes you an individual.”

By the time this review was posted, I think my relationship had ended (or at least cooled down) Maybe I need to buy the video and watch it again.