The Movie

The 2005 film Unhitched is a light-hearted romantic comedy with a lot of cliches that are put to good use. The movie begins with a quick overview of the main character's life and how his promising future led him to a dead end job. Olly Pickering (Stuart Townsend) grew up feeling like he was out of his place. His parents were very different from him and he did not have many friends. One day, he met a boy named Murray (Seth Green). They quickly became best friends and their friendship endured over the years.

When adulthood came, Olly went to college to major in English, while Murray stayed behind. In college, Olly met a new best bud named James (Steve John Stepard), who helped Olly get accustomed to life at the university. He is a self-centered, upscale-snot who likes the ladies. One day Olly invited Murray to one of James' parties, which turned out to be a mistake. Murray got drunk and vomited on James, which led to the two hating each other for life.

When college was over, life was looking good for Olly. He was writing and offered a 50,000 dollar advance based on the first three chapters of his book. Unfortunately with the money came pressure and Olly was hit with an awful case of writer's block. He was unable to write anything and lost his advance. He moved in with Murray and took a temp job as a P.A. to the editor in women's self-help books. Three years later, Olly is still in the same job. And things start to change when Olly meets Sarah Marie Barker (Amy Smart), the bride-to-be of his good friend James.

When Olly first meets Sarah, he does not realize that she is James' fiancee. It is love at first sight; a love that he knows to be forbidden. The matter is complicated when James asks him to be the best man. Adding to the fire, the situation really spices up when Murray finds out that Olly has the hots for his archnemesis' bride-to-be. Murray enacts a sequence of events that makes James look like he is cheating on Sarah! Meanwhile, he works hard to put Olly and Sarah together. Slowly, sparks fly and it is evident who loves who.

What works for this movie is the simplicity of the story. There really is not a whole lot to it, and a fair amount of the story is rehashed from other romantic comedies. Still, it all comes together nicely and makes for a fun watch. The jokes are small and subtle, but nice. They include Olly falling on his butt or getting his foot stuck in his mouth, Murray and sexual deviant porn jokes, and other such things. As for the characters, I really enjoyed Townsend and Green in their roles. Townsend makes for a great leading character as the hero searching for love. Green I normally can't stand, but I liked him. His character was a good mix with the rest of the cast.

Overall, Unhitched is an enjoyable movie that will make for a solid date flick. While the story is fairly cliched, it still comes together nicely and has some strong performances. However, despite that I have praised this film, it does have limited replay value and I would suggest renting it.

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in 2.35:1 ratio widescreen color, which is encapsulated in a 1.78:1 ratio format. The picture quality is quite good. It suffers from a slight grain, but detail remains to be sharp and clear.

Audio:
The primary audio track is given in English 2.0 Dolby digital surround sound. The audio offers dialogue that is easy to hear and music that sounds rich. There are also English and Spanish subtitles, and support for closed captioning.

Extras:
There are trailers for Crank, Employee of the Month, The U.S. vs. John Lennon, and Farce of the Penguins.

Final Thoughts:
Unhitched is a light-hearted romantic comedy about a guy down on life who falls in love with his college buddy's fiancee and his best friend who tries to breakup the wedding on his behalf. The film has a nice tone with lead actors Townsend and Green doing a fine job in their roles. Overall, I enjoyed this movie and I think it will make for a good date movie. However, the film has limited replay value; so, it is best as a rental.