Hitch'd and In Good Company

I've watched two movies the past few days--"Hitch" and "In Good Company". Let me begin with Hitch and then proceed with In Good Company. I'm excited to talk about these two movies for they are different and are both good in the aspects where they differ.




Hitch is simply one of the coolest movies around. Up there with "Chasing Amy". It's about this love doctor (Will Smith) that hitches courtship-challenge guys with the girl of their dreams. What I like about it is how Will Smith carries himself in his life. Eva Mendez was again stunning, although there were a few scenes that I felt she dropped the ball. I thought the movie would have been funnier if Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock played that role.

A lot of guys can definitely learn something from Will Smith here. He's confident and knows how to talk to women. He also shows how he can handle himself in awkward situations.

Kevin James (the lead actor in "The King of Queens") was superb as a supporting actor and in some scenes he actually steals the show from Will Smith.

The only thing I didn't like with the movie is its ending. As with a lot of movies that appeal to the masses, this one opts for the happy ending even if it's not consistent with how the characters play out. Basically in the end, the characters realize their mistakes, and fall in love with one another, with the assumption that they all live happily ever after. It's all nice and sweet, but watch this kind of ending many times, and you begin to feel a sort of pretentiousness to it.

Now on to "In Good Company". At first I felt ambivalent about this movie. I thought it was a romantic comedy like Hitch. When I saw the ending, I was disappointed. I was asking myself "where was the romance?" Then it came to me that this was NOT a romantic comedy. And as I began to see the movie in that light, it's actually a good movie.

I like how the characters are real to themselves. No changes here. Even the ending, although probably scorned because of it wasn't a happy ending was satisfying to me. It showed that the hero doesn't always get the girl, and doesn't always succeed. The movie didn't portray life as glamorous, in fact I found myself thinking how hard their lives must be, but despite that, they continue to strive on.




I especially like it when Alex Foreman (Scarlett Johanssen) broke up with Carter Duryea (Topher Grace). You realize that they really weren't meant to be. And that their romance isn't the central point of the movie. Ironically, the central theme of the movie was Carter's and Dan Foreman's (Dennis Quaid) relationship.

But this too dies, and in the end, the movie ends up with it's cast of characters moving on with their lives, enriched (and wiser?). The ending was satisfying to me, as it wasn't a cop out.