Consider me a (slightly) changed man.

No, it's not because I just saw the movie Hitch -- the tagline for which reads "The cure for the common man" -- but because I sincerely liked Hitch and all that it stood for.

Because this is a romantic comedy of sorts, what I just said comes as a shock to me even as I'm writing this down. Usually, immediately after I see a film like Hitch I'll say to myself, "yeah, that was kind of funny and entertaining, I guess I liked it." But after I give it some more thought and let my very picky (at least I like to think so) film appetite settle in, the movie that once seemed so humorous and interesting has turned into a rotten apple. Figuratively speaking, of course.

This process never happened in the days following Hitch, and I'm still trying to figure out why. I think I may have it nailed down to a few simple reasons.

First off, I've decided that I enjoyed Hitch primarily because it seemed as though it was the cure for the common romantic comedy. As Will Smith's "date doctor" Alex "Hitch" Hitchens describes to us at the beginning of the film, 90 percent of what a man is saying doesn't come out of his mouth. This is one of the most prominent rules the doctor instills upon his clients, and an example that we viewers are treated to right off the bat in a series of events circling around three clients.

As you watch this opening sequence -- that ends with three first kisses and thus, as Hitch tells us, three more satisfied clients -- think back to all the other romantic comedies you've seen in the past, and what I've said about this movie being a cure will make sense. Hitch may seem to have a playbook that is one-of-a-kind, but that is not the case. Like most of us, he's seen hundreds of romantic comedies; the only difference is that he has studied them to a tee. What can be realized from most of the tips Hitch offers his clients is that they have worked in other romantic comedy situations, and they should work in this one as well. In this way, the film seems to be riffing on the genre; an idea that I thought played quite nicely.

A second reason that I believe helped Hitch stay fresh in my mind was the idea that character wasn't lost among the several concepts the movie was pitching. Smith, who up until this point has spent most of his time in overblown action flicks, seemed to love every minute of his date-movie freedom. For this role to succeed, Smith had to buy into everything Hitch was selling, and with his textbook teaching approach down pat, it seems as though he did.

But the real character that the film produces is none other than Smith's primary client Albert, played hilariously by Kevin James, of The King of Queens. It's always a big move for any television actor to make a transition to film, but James chose a great role to get his feet wet, and he had me laughing frequently.

Perhaps the final reason that I enjoyed this movie so much was because I think Hitch's profession is just too darn cool. Like I said earlier, Smith acts almost as a tutor throughout the movie. He says so much about so little that at some points you may feel slightly overwhelmed, but that is precisely why this film is so enjoyable. He may be speaking about a bunch of bull, but he believes in it, and if he has his way, you will too.

Honestly, I don't know where Hitch went to college or what his field of study was, but I wish there were some way I could find out. Even if I did, I doubt there'd be such a thing in real life. I guess that's what makes these kinds of movies entertaining in the first place, the fact that they are just so unbelievable.