ENTERTAINTMENT

'Hitch' a hilarious Romantic Comedy for Men
Jason Kimbro | Staff Reporter

“Hitch” is probably the best romantic comedy I have ever seen. But, of course, I am a man. Being the manly man I am, the kind who never cries and only cooks outside (yeah right), it is understandable that what is to be the best romantic comedy I have ever seen, is probably far from being the best romantic comedy ever made.
Why, you may ask? Well, that is romantic comedies are not made for men, they are made for women, thus the best romantic comedy ever made should probably be only a halfway decent romantic comedy in my eyes.
Don’t get me wrong, this is an excellent romantic comedy, but only for men. Women may leave the theater feeling somewhat lukewarm, lacking the true sentiment they want to find in such a film.
But alas, here’s the gist:
Alex Hitchins, a.k.a. Hitch (Will Smith) is the ultimate consultant for the nice guy who finishes last. He’s the kind of guy I wished I had around about a year or so ago, helping these nice, yet not so smooth, men get with the women of their dreams, the women they deserve.
Things are going great. He makes these men happy and he makes a lot of money doing it. Wow, if I would’ve started with that sentence, then it would have sounded like “American Gigolo” in San Francisco. Anyway, let’s continue.
Hitch has decided to work on his Sistine Chapel, a bumbling, overweight klutz by the name of Albert (Kevin James of “The King of Queens”). Albert is in love with the Paris Hilton knock-off Allegra Cole (Amber Valleta, the dead girl from “What Lies Beneath) and it will take a miracle for him to hook up with such a gal.
Imagine Ruben Studdard after Kelly Clarkson. Take away Ruben’s singing abilities, make him white, and splotch mustard all over his shirt. Well, just make him white.
In the midst of this attempt at being cupid, Hitch has fallen for a girl as well, a gossip columnist by the name of Sara Milas (Eva Mendes). Now, the trailers have revealed quite a bit of this movie. Being the smooth mamma-jamma he is, Hitch is having problems being smooth around Sara.
All the while, this same columnist Hitch has fallen for, is in search of this urban legend known as the “date doctor.” In other words, the person she is looking for is right under her nose, being as clumsy and dimwitted as Albert, yet being oh so adorable.
It is hard to explain anymore of this flick without really giving away anything, but of course, I am sure you can all predict what will happen. I know I could and I know my date could.
The packages are wrapped up nice and neatly and all is well in Manhattan for another Hollywood fairy tale. Yeah.
So how is this more of a man’s romantic comedy than a females? Well, the comedy, for one, is aimed more towards the males. From the swollen visage of Will Smith to the bumbling acts of Kevin James, we are all watching “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” mixed with “King of Queens.” 
I guess that would be “The Fresh Prince King of Queens Air Something or Other.” I’m a dork.
But yeah, man’s comedy all the way. Even the lovely dialogue expressing the joys of love is more male-friendly. I found myself wooed by this script, whereas my girlfriend did not.  Normally I would be bothered by this, but I am secure in my masculinity. Now get me a beer and cook me some dinner, woman!
I mean, would you mind getting me a beer while I cook your dinner?
I laughed all the way through this one. The sight-gags, the typical hoorah that is mostly seen in the trailers remains fresh. Entertainment is filled to the rim with Brim.
The atmospherics are somewhat cut and dry. Nothing too spectacular, but just enough of what is needed to generate the sensations this film is trying to ooze onto our senses, whichever sensations those might be.
Performances were fairly decent. Will Smith still thinks he is avoiding Uncle Banks and Kevin James is still avoiding Jerry Stiller. In other words, they are still stuck in their television roles, but apparently that is what this script calls for. Typecasting has been avoided by Smith, but James better be careful.
The story is a bit far-fetched. How accurate would it be to see Albert actually get Allegra to fall in love with him? Well, I don’t know. Kevin James sure is one adorable teddy bear.  I mean, that is what I was told by some random lady. Yeah, some random lady.
I had to root for him though. I am that adorable, klutzy, teddy bear and I have my Allegra, though she thought Allegra was too ugly, then I told her that she was hot. I got THE LOOK, and I sucked up the rest of the night. We men are in a losing battle.
Besides all that, which I am sure all of you are definitely getting tired of hearing about, I would like to say it is about time we had a romantic comedy for men.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I am gonna go cry and cook a nice pot roast with red skin potatoes and broccoli. Now where are my heels?


Cross Canadian Ragweed: Southern Fried rockers keep busy
Richard Carter | Staff Reporter

They’re a little country. They’re a little bit rock and roll.
But what southern fried rockers Cross Canadian Ragweed are for sure is busy. After a cross-country tour with Dierks Bentley, the band is still fast and furious on the concert trail, and writing and arranging to record their new album.
During a break in the annual five-day ski trip and music extravaganza in Steamboat Colorado, I spoke with band drummer Randy Ragsdale about the growing phenomenon that is Cross Canadian Ragweed.
“It’s definitely been a dream come true,” he said. “When we started out, all we wanted to do is if we could do this and not do anything else and still pay our bills. And we’ve been able to do a lot more.”
“We’re blessed and we know it,” Ragsdale said.
The band’s last album, “Soul Gravy,” released last March has already sold over 120,000 copies, and the group got to tour with childhood heroes ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
A hard working band, they play about 260 shows a year, and might be considered Oklahoma’s version of Bowling for Soup for their work ethic and love of playing live.
“We dig the road,” the drummer said. “The only bad part is missing your family. Honestly, that’s the only thing I don’t like about being gone so long.”
While they’ve been on the road, vocalist and guitarist Cody Canada has already written five songs for the next record due out in October. “We still have a lot of writing and arranging to do. In the next couple of weeks, we’re going to start writing again and hitting it hard, you know.”
Most of the writing and the arrangements take place on the road, according to Ragsdale, because that’s where they spend most of their time.
They’re not sure yet whether the new album will be more country or rock.
“With each album,” Ragsdale said, “we don’t ever try to say we’re going to make a country album or a rock album. We just do a song and it comes out the way it does. Whichever way the music takes us is how we roll.” 
But despite whether they’re playing a Ted Nugent cover or a Merle Haggard influenced song, the band’s influences are older country and southern rock.
“We pay tribute to what we started listening to a long time ago and all our idols,” Ragsdale said.
The group hopes to have the new CD finished by May and will be co-produced for the first time by legendary producer Tony Brown.
“We’re excited and nervous at the same time. It’s going to be a new experience. It will be stiff at first. I think he’ll put us through the ringer with musician stuff. We’re looking forward to it,” he said.
Despite their recent success as a major label act, Ragsdale doesn’t think things have changed that much for the band. So far, the larger label only means that the band’s CDs get distributed a little more widely.
“When we release a CD now, it goes to more places than the regional distribution we had before,” he said. And that means the band gets to play farther more across the country than when they were self-promoted.
Despite their newfound success, they haven’t left behind the smaller clubs. “We like the intimacy of the small venues. It’s cool to play a stadium with shitloads of people, but it’s also cool to go to a bar where there’s hardly any difference between the stage and the crowd.”
It’s still kind of hard for the band members to realize all the good things good that have happened to them, though.  “It’s surreal,” Ragsdale said. “It’s definitely something we’ve been working towards for a long time.”