History Film / Hitch

* MisplacedRetribution: After Sara's friend slept with a jerk who dumped her on their one-night stand, the jerk dropped Hitch's name as the one who helped him woo her, even though this was a spiteful lie on his part (as Hitch refused to help Vance). Sara is then convinced that Hitch tricks women into sleeping with {{Jerkass}} men and libels not only him but also his current client Albert in her column. While the former is PoorCommunicationKills, since she never confirmed Vance's claim, the latter is MisplacedRetribution since Sara doesn't even know Albert and simply thought he hired Hitch to sleep with a girl. Truthfully, Albert is just a dorky worker who actually needed Hitch to impress an UptownGirl and Sara's column torpedoed his relationship (if only for a short time).

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Allegra, a blonde, beautiful, wealthy heiress who is also a total sweetheart who is secretly just as much of a dork as Albert.

-->'''Albert''': [[KirkSummation No, love is your ''job''.]]

A 2005 romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant, starring Creator/WillSmith and Creator/EvaMendes.

In New York, there are rumors of a man called the "Date Doctor" who gives advice to [[UnluckyEverydude Unlucky Everydudes]] and [[DoggedNiceGuy Dogged Nice Guys]] on how to get the affections of the ladies they admire. It turns out the "Date Doctor" really does exist--his name is Alex "Hitch" Hitchins (played by Will Smith). He gets hired by Albert Brennaman (Creator/KevinJames), who is a meek CPA in love with the beautiful and sweet heiress Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta). Meanwhile, Hitch bumps into Sara Melas (Creator/EvaMendes): a rather cynical gossip columnist, and the two hit it off. Despite all of his expert advice and knowledge of women, all of their dates turn into crazy mishaps. But somewhere in there, they begin to fall for one another...

* FakeDangerGambit: Will Smith entices a dog away from its owner so that his client can appear to have jumped in front of a car to save it so that the client can get a date with the owner.

--> '''Hitch:''' You've got shoes on. Got your hair pulled back. So... Will you make love with me?
--> ''*everyone breaks down laughing*''

* BenevolentBoss: Sara's. He was tough when he needed to be, but it turns out he cares about Sara and her relationship with Hitch as he notices they care about each other.

** Albert is set off by a news-stand manager who asks him "So how was she? Pretty good, huh?" after he and Allegra break up.
%%* BetaCouple: Albert and Allegra.

-->'''Hitch''': Because that's what people do. They leap and hope to God they can fly because otherwise they just drop like a rock, wondering the whole way down "Why in the ''hell'' did I jump?" But here I am, Sara, falling...and there's only one person who makes me feel like I can fly, and that's you.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: There exists in real life a "Pick-Up Artist" culture of men who consider themselves skilled at wooing women. Some of them are manipulative and unrepentant [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]] like Vance, while others are genuinely nice guys like Hitch who coach clueless guys on how to become less clueless about women. In some ways, the ending of this movie is a {{Deconstruction}} of this "Pick-Up Artist" culture.

* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Beautiful and sweet heiress Allegra Cole.

* TheGlassesGottaGo: This was a part of Hitch sexing himself up.
* GroinAttack: Sara gives Vance Munson a well-deserved one.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Albert for Allegra. Also, Hitch for Albert, as he realizes that he's not just a client, ''but a friend.''
* {{Jerkass}}: Vance Munson. Hitch is horrified about his views on women and his intentions for Casey, and refuses to work with him.

%%* {{Corpsing}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50YQeugOMOw Watch the dance lesson]]. Watch Hitch's face.

--> ''[[{{Corpsing}} *everyone breaks down laughing*]]''

-->'''Hitch:''' That man would have sold his soul to make you happy.
-->'''Allegra:''' So what does that make you? [[DealWithTheDevil The Devil?]]

-->'''Hitch:''' ''(to Sara, [[NatureTinkling who's relieving herself behind some bushes]])'' You need some help?!
-->'''Sara:''' Help?! Peeing?!

-->'''Sara''' : Where's the Benadryl?
-->'''Cashier''': In Aisle 2.
-->'''Sara''': Where's Aisle 2?
-->'''Cashier''': The one with the big '2' over it.

-->'''Sara:''' (in a very small voice) Can you believe that guy?
-->'''Casey:''' Actually...I ''do''.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Hitch doesn't take on every client who finds his information. He spends some time talking to them and trying to find out why they need his help. He seeks out the people who are infatuated with a girl and don't know what to do. As such he sometimes prods them to see how they react.

* BerserkButton: Hitch believes that his job is to help decent but awkward men find the love they deserve, so NOTHING gets him more FURIOUS than assholes who use his teachings to play with women's feelings, and he was more than willing to break a womanizing asshole's wrist when he did just that. (Hitch calls them "Men who hate women")
%%** For Albert: "So how was she? Pretty good, huh?"

* EndearinglyAwkward: Although following the ''spirit'' of Hitch's advice, Albert mainly manages to charm Allegra by being who he really is...which involves bad dancing, teaching her to whistle, and dropping mustard on his shirt.

* {{Adorkable}}:
** Although following the ''spirit'' of Hitch's advice, Albert mainly manages to charm Allegra by being who he really is...which involves bad dancing, teaching her to whistle, and dropping mustard on his shirt.
--->'''Hitch:''' So, wait...that stuff ''worked'' for you?\\
'''Allegra:''' It was adorable.
** Allegra is herself quite adorkable at times - particularly in the boardroom scene where she asks for money to pursue a project.
** Hitch himself in his college days was an awkward late bloomer who dressed like a dork...and still managed to get a beautiful woman to date him (if only briefly).

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_1039.JPG]]

* BlackAndNerdy: Hitch was a massive dorkwad in his younger years, with prominent glasses, terrible luck and poor socual skills.

* BrokenAesop: After a conversation with Allegra reveals Albert charmed her with various things that Hitch had warned him not to do, Hitch later says there are no "basic principles" (his previous catch phrase) - to find love, you should just be yourself. However, Albert still would not have had a shot, or even taken the shot, without the prodding and lecturing of Hitch, especially the opening scene that sets up their first date, and in general it was shown that Hitch first and foremost boosted the confidence of his clients in their ability to get the girl to notice them - being themselves, even when they were a likeable guy, just wasn't enough. Confirmed in-story, as Hitch gets Allegra to admit that without his help, she probably would have never noticed Albert.

* MyCard: As in [[Film/MenInBlack another movie]] with Will Smith, Hitch disgueses the nature of his business by using a brown plastic square with his phone number written out (One Two Three, etc) as his business card.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Played with. Hitch actually refused to help Vance seduce Casey, even though he gets blamed for it. In the final scene he helps her get hooked up.

* TakeThat: Since the studio wouldn't cast a white actress as the female lead to avoid a racial taboo; Hitch lets it slip to Sara that his college roommate married his sister and they were expecting a baby. Near the beginning of the film Hitch is talking to a "old friend" in a bar (played by white actor Creator/MichaelRapaport) who is married and expecting a baby. It's subtle, but if one thinks about it, they realize that this character was the friend in question who was married to his sister.

%%* BlackAndNerdy: From what we can tell, Hitch used to be this in college.
%%* BoyfriendBluff: How Hitch and Sara meet.

** For Albert: "So how was she? Pretty good, huh?"
* BetaCouple: Albert and Allegra.

* BlackAndNerdy: From what we can tell, Hitch used to be this in college.
* BoyfriendBluff: How Hitch and Sara meet.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: "Basic principles...[[spoiler:there are none]].

* CatchPhrase: "Basic principles:"

* {{Corpsing}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50YQeugOMOw Watch the dance lesson]]. Watch Hitch's face.

* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: The woman at the speed dating activity.

* SenseiForScoundrels: Hitch is a more good-natured version of the trope.

* StraightGay: Allegra's best friend Magnus, AKA "Maggie."

* UnluckyEverydude: Albert.

* WhatTheHellHero: "This is EXACTLY why falling in love is so goddamn hard!"

* YouKnowWhatYouDid: Magnificently defied when Hitch calls Sara out on her attempt at pulling this trope on him.

%%** For Albert: "So how was she? Pretty good, huh?"
%%* BetaCouple: Albert and Allegra.

%%* BlackAndNerdy: From what we can tell, Hitch used to be this in college.
%%* BoyfriendBluff: How Hitch and Sara meet.
%%* BreakingTheFourthWall: "Basic principles...[[spoiler:there are none]].

%%* CatchPhrase: "Basic principles:"

%%* {{Corpsing}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50YQeugOMOw Watch the dance lesson]]. Watch Hitch's face.

%%* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: The woman at the speed dating activity.

%%* SenseiForScoundrels: Hitch is a more good-natured version of the trope.

%%* StraightGay: Allegra's best friend Magnus, AKA "Maggie."

%%* UnluckyEverydude: Albert.

%%* WhatTheHellHero: "This is EXACTLY why falling in love is so goddamn hard!"

%%* YouKnowWhatYouDid: Magnificently defied when Hitch calls Sara out on her attempt at pulling this trope on him.

* DisproportionateRetribution: When Sara learns that a friend of hers slept with a guy who dumped her the morning after and made a ''brief'' comment about the "date doctor", Sara sets out to expose the man in question for his role in hurting her friend. As a result, she trashes Hitch's reputation and his current client in a gossip column, even though the current client could have had nothing to do with what happened to her friend and Hitch had never actually ''worked'' with the man in the first place (the guy tried to 'hire' Hitch but was turned down when it was made clear that he just wanted to "bang her" rather than actually have a relationship).