It deserved better.

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2004)

I liked the premise of this movie from the first time I saw the trailer, however I refused to go see it in the theater. I also passed it up in the video store three or four times, before I finally broke down.
You may ask why I would pass up a movie more than twice that I really wanted to see? I think I can explain it in two words.
Adam Sandler.
I don't think he's a bad actor. I think he's a hell of a funny guy. He's not even that bad looking in a goofy sort of way. But some of his laughs are at the expense of my stomach and he never fails to have a gross out moment that taught me ages ago this valuable lesson: Unless I want to regurgitate popcorn on a complete stranger, NEVER see an Adam Sandler movie in the theater.
However, movies with similar theme have been quite intriguing. Groundhog's Day, Memento, Frequency, Butterfly Effect; I loved them all. Plus, I'm always a sucker for a Drew Barrymore flic (the one exception being Charlie's Angels 2), so how could I resist this one.
So, I finally worked up my courage, skipped a couple of meals, grabbed a plastic bag anyway and settled down at home to watch this movie on DVD.
Needless to say, he did not let me down. I nearly hurled, but just barely managed to hold on. Quicker than you can say vomiting walrus, I nearly chucked the movie out the window. But the lady at the video store had already remitted my previous late fees once and I didn't want to pay for the entire movie, so I let my stomach settle a bit and fortunately this was the worst and only gross out part of the whole movie. Or maybe if there were other gross out parts, NOTHING anyone can come up with is worse than gallons of walrus vomit, so the rest of the movie was pretty good.
This movie really doesn't settle down much. It's either dead boring, laugh out loud funny, or over the top romantic. I have a feeling that this is probably what Adam Sandler must be like in real life. At any rate, what I didn't expect were my tears at the end before I even realized it, which were either because the movie was so awesomely romantic, or partly relief that there weren't any more hurl-worthy moments. Just like this paragraph, the movie contradicts itself greatly.
This movie also made me realize something. Movies should leave you with an overall impression. Kind of like a Monet: a vivid impression, an overall feeling, and solid emotion. This movie does all that but you're still left with the after image of walrus vomit.
It deserved better.