Valentine’s Day is upon us, and while you may have forgotten, you can be sure Hollywood hasn’t. Where there is love, after all, there is box office. This year the studios are giving us a break from the usual romantic menagerie (the Good Girl in Love with the Wrong Guy, the Corporate Titan Who Needs a Down-to-Earth Woman) in favor of a more exotic species, the Love Doctor. Last week, it was Dermot Mulroney’s Jedi gigolo in “The Wedding Date”; this week, it’s Will Smith’s Cupid-for-hire in “Hitch.”

Given Mr. Smith’s easy charm, it’s surprising this is his first real foray into romantic comedy. It will be far more shocking if it is his last. No, Mr. Smith is not Cary Grant. But one can see in him hints of some of the latter’s gifts: the versatility, the screwball athleticism, and most of all the abiding comfort within his own skin. At a time when the romantic comedy has fallen on such hard times that processed tripe like “The Wedding Date” can clear more than $10 million on its opening weekend, he may be the best we can hope for, short of George Clooney on one of his better days.

Mr. Smith plays Alex Hitchens, a.k.a. the “date doctor,” a romance coach for men who are shy, awkward, or otherwise in need of help with the ladies. His lessons vary from the general – “Listen and respond, listen and respond” – to the particular – no biting the lip while dancing; if a woman plays with her keys when she reaches her door, she’s waiting for a kiss.

Hitch, of course, is not himself hitched. Rather, he is in the long line of bachelor love experts extending from Grant’s Mortimer Brewster in “Arsenic and Old Lace” to Vince Vaughn’s Trent Walker in “Swingers.” But Hitch offers a welcome evolutionary leap in the character type: He’s not a cynic but a wounded romantic, whose goal for his pupils is not sex without strings but rather the grail of true and lasting love.

His primary trainee in the course of the film is Albert Brennaman (Kevin James, from television’s “King of the Hill”), a mid-level banker who has fallen for a rich, beautiful celebrity client (former supermodel Amber Valletta). This role is Mr. James’s first real opportunity on the big screen, and he takes advantage to stake a claim to the currently unoccupied (or at least disputed) throne of Top Fat Comedian.

But in addition to the usual slobstick-spilling mustard on himself, dancing like a buffoon, walking out of a public restroom without pants – Mr. James conveys a core of heroic decency that makes Albert a plausible partner (well, almost) for a woman otherwise far out of his league. By the end of the film, his relationship with Hitch is reversed, with student instructing teacher in love’s tender ways.

Hitch is by then sorely in need of the advice, having fallen hard himself for beautiful gossip columnist Sara Melas, played by Eva Mendes. If “Hitch” helps consolidate Mr. Smith’s leading man status, it represents a real breakthrough for Ms. Mendes. Strong without being overbearing and possessed of a broad, infectious grin, her Sara is every bit Hitch’s match and offers a delightful change from the fragile, neurotic career women and heart-of-gold nurturers who populate most contemporary romantic comedies.

Like Hitch, Sara has written off her own prospects for love, but unlike him she’s written off everyone else’s, as well – and chosen her profession accordingly. Eventually his work, which requires discretion, and hers, which entails exposure, will come into conflict. But before they do, Mr. Smith and Ms. Mendes play a winning game of romantic cat and mouse, circling each other with wary interest.

In this they are assisted by a witty, sophisticated script from rookie screenwriter Kevin Bisch, and brisk, fluid direction by Andy Tennant. Rather than simply assert the attraction between the leads or suggest it’s a mere compatibility of types (e.g., the tightly wound overachiever and the free spirit), Messrs. Bisch and Tennant allow it to unfold onscreen. Hitch and Sarah are the lamentably rare movie couple who seem actually to enjoy talking to one another; in their banter and sparring, their confessions and arguments, we see two sharp minds taking the measure of one another. For my money, there’s nothing sexier.

The movie has its share of missteps. The humor is often a bit broad, and the script falters after the inevitable collision between Hitch and Sara’s respective professions, becoming oddly tentative and unconvincing in the final 20 minutes. By then, however, the film has built up enough good will that it is easy to forgive, thanks in large part to the verbal chemistry between its leads. Early in the film, Hitch explains to Albert that communication between men and women is 60% percent body language, 30% tone, and a mere 10% dialogue. Many movie producers doubtless believe this to be true. But “Hitch” reminds us of the pleasure of characters who actually have something to say.