The Seven Year Hitch (2012) Natalie Hall, Darin Brooks, Frances Fisher, George Wendt Movie Review

The Seven Year Hitch (2012)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Darin Brooks and Natalie Hall in The Seven Year Hitch (2012)

Love & Marriage

From the day Kevin's family moved in next door he and Jennifer have been best friends, going through school and college together. And whilst Jennifer graduates from college with a clear focus on her career she lets Kevin move in to her home when he drops out. Seven years later and Kevin is still living with Jennifer and still unfocused as ever when it comes to what he wants in life. But things take a curious turn when after just 6 months of dating Jennifer's boyfriend Bryce asks her to marry him, something which worries Kevin as he doesn't trust Bryce. And then to make things even stranger Kevin learns that having lived with Jennifer for 7 years they technically have a common law marriage and now must prove he is the right man for her by doing some growing up.

Cutting through the layers of fluff and the underlying storyline to "The Seven Year Hitch" is a familiar one as we have the young man watching on as the woman he realises he loves is marrying the wrong guy. It is an idea which has been explored many a times and as such has an inevitable outcome which to be honest is exactly what you expect from a Hallmark romantic comedy.

But whilst Hallmark's "The Seven Year Hitch" has that expected sense of predictability about it, it is certainly not a generic movie. It may be ridiculously far fetched but the set up of Kevin and Jennifer having lived together for 7 years being common law husband and wife is an unusual one. Okay so the comedy chaos which comes with this as Kevin tries to show Jennifer he is the right guy and prove Bryce is the wrong guy for her is a bit corny in places but at the same time it makes you smile.

Now the big reason why a lot of the comedy works in "The Seven Year Hitch" is down to both Natalie Hall and Darin Brooks who not only know how to deliver the comedy of their parts but they have chemistry. It actually makes a change because far too often in a Hallmark romantic comedy it will feel like actors just going through the motions but here you get a sense that Hall and Brooks got on and brought that to the screen.

What this all boils down to is that "The Seven Year Hitch" has all the familiarity you expect from a Hallmark romantic comedy but it also has some fun ideas, a quirky storyline but most importantly a couple of actors who have chemistry and make so much of the humour work.


LATEST REVIEWS