Another Fathers Day present I received last weekend was the movie Hitch, a comedy starring Will Smith. We had seen it in the theaters when it came out and I thought it was probably one of the funniest comedies I had seen released in a while. Watching the movie again on DVD confirmed my original impression of the film.

I haven’t laughed this hard at a movie in a long time.

Will Smith plays Alex Hitchens, the “date doctor”. He is a consultant for men wanting to make women fall in love with them. His business comes from word of mouth. He doesn’t advertise, because he wants to remain anonymous.

His newest client is Albert, played by Kevin James. Hitch’s assignment is to help Albert get socialite Allegra Cole to fall in love with him.

During this time, Hitch also meets Sara, a gossip reporter with the local newspaper. He falls for her and nuttiness ensues as Hitch tries to land the girl of his dreams while nothing goes right for him.

This movie was absolutely hilarious. It is rare that I laugh this hard at a movie and even rarer that it happens twice. Watching this one on video was just as funny as watching it at the theater. Kevin James was absolutely brilliant as Albert, as was Smith in his role. In my opinion they could have found a better Sara, as Eva Mendes turned out just to be annoying to me through the movie.

If you’ve been looking for a really good comedy and want to spend the good part of 118 minutes laughing, pick it up.