Eva Mendes as Sara Melas: (SPOILER)
....was miscast. Prior to Hitch, I have enjoyed everything that Mendes has been in. I think she's a fine talent: attractive in the way men tend to like more than women, funny, and an above average film actress. But the character in this film posed a problem for Eva because with all of these excellent qualities, the character needed something that Eva couldn't provide: a likeability factor that is a natural part of an actress' personal on-screen persona. This is not just about good looks or acting talent, this belongs to the individual actress and his hers and hers alone. And not a lot of female film stars have this. Think a young Meg Ryan, or Audrey Hepburn, for example. In her prime, Meg Ryan could play an ax murderer and the audience would find it hard to not like her. Her character in Sleepless in Seattle wasn't the nicest person in the world. She was basically cheating (if only mentally) on her fiance, and she was a bit of a patronizing nag to him. Still, we rooted for her and Tom Hanks to get together. Why? Because Meg has or certainly had that 'je ne sais crois' that just pops off the screen and makes the audience like her.
The character of Sara Melas needed an actress who had that quality. (Don't ask me who fits the bill today, seeing as the producers had such rigid racial requirements.) Perhaps, their first choice of JLo was better. And not because Jennifer is better looking than Eva or even a better actress. But JLo has a higher likeability factor and just might have made the character of Sara Melas more appealing and understandable that Hitch would have fallen in love with her.
I give credit to Eva. She tried awfully hard. But she was clearly uncomfortable in this role. And I don't think the director helped her get it either. He made her turn the bitch part of Sara up too high. And Eva didn't know how to reign it down with the cutesy aspects of Sara's personality which might have endeared the audience to her. But a lot of that has to do with the character the writer created. Although his basic idea is good, very appealing and a lot of fun, he trapped himself in the creation of his main conflict by creating a character like Sara that was going to be hard to like. Face it: what's to like about a gossip columinist who makes their living being nosy and then sharing it with the rest of the world in spite of how it may hurt people. These people are SCUM! Nobody really likes them even if we feed on the gossip they put out there. Especially when you juxtapose her with a loveable character like Hitch who is honestly trying to help guys get the girl they love. Hitch is CUPID for men. The character Casey makes a good point when she wonders if he helps women. Women like Casey could use a female Hitch to help them out, which he, in fact, does at the end of the film.
When Sara gets all self-righteous with Hitch, based on erroneous info, about what he does, it's a classic case of the pot calling out the kettle. Actually, worse, because the audience LIKES what Hitch does, and not what Sara does for a living. (Maybe this is why JLo turned the part down, given her history with the tabloids. She probably felt, I hate these people, no way I want to play one.) To make the Hitch/Sara relationship work, the role called for an actress who we can't help but liking no matter what her character is. Eva simply doesn't have that as part of her assets. But I can't help but feeling that as good as the script was, the writer trapped himself by creating a character that would rely so heavily on the actress' personal persona/charisma to make it work.
The toughest scene in the movie was the scene when Sara goes to Hitch's apartment and acts really bitchy. Eva played it way too bitchy, when it really was a scene about her being hurt, disappointed and even heart-broken. If you watch Will Smith in this scene, he, too, is uncomfortable. He was like, 'this broad is so bitchy I don't even like her now.' So how could we root for them to get together. When characters like this fight in a movie, their fight is suppose to be fraught with sexual tension, it's a substitute for love-making. In a comedy like this, the audience is supposed to be laughing at them, because we know what's really going on. In this scene, by the time they were throwing the salad, it really wasn't funny anymore.
But my biggest criticism is reserved for the writer. Finally, the script was too self-conscious about trying not to be a corny love story. It's clear the writer was trying to say, my people are cool. At the end, when Hitch tells Sara: "I love you!" Her response is: "If I say it back now, it will sound stupid." Excuse me? Sara needs to say it back. We need to hear Sara say it back! By trying so hard NOT TO BE CORNY, he made Sara a bitch to the end. Why should we want Hitch to wind up with a broad like that? Wrong move, writer and director, too. It's the freakin end of the movie. Hearing a character say "I love you" is like the pay off pitch. Sara not saying it back, sounded stupid!
But the movie still made $300 million +..... WTF do I know?