Make up your mind

Rating: 4/10 (6 January 2007)

The premise here is derivative but full of potential. In short, two lovers are stuck in the same day. The woman (Barrymore) is stuck due to a mental impairment that prevents her from retaining new memories. The man (Sandler) is stuck because, smitten with her, he resigns himself to the same fate. Day after day he takes her on a romantic first date, knowing she'll never remember him in the morning.
The filmmakers could have played this a number of ways. They could have played to Barrymore's strengths and made on those edgeless rom-coms in which everything turns out fine in the end. They could have played to Sandler's strengths and exploited the idea for cheap, crude laughs. They could have opted for the black humour and narrative fun of 'Groundhog Day.' There are certain filmmakers who would work this idea as a tragicomedy.
The problem is the filmmakers never choose one of the above paths. They try to negotiate them all. Therefore, despite some promise, we get a painfully uneven film that never resolves the issue of whether to take itself seriously or not. We get scenes that belong in a harmless rom-com, we get scenes that belong in a bittersweet drama, and we get scenes involving Rob Schneider and a barfing walrus. I doubt anyone could meld these into a cohesive film.
To understand why this doesn't work, consider the ending. The film concludes with a 'solution' that is presented as sweet and romantic. But it's not. Consider the dilemma Barrymore's character would wake up to every morning. Throughout the film, Sandler's character is presented as decent and well-meaning but what he does at the end is selfish and cruel.
Of the four stars I awarded, three are for Barrymore who tried hard to hold this mess together with sweetness and charm. In the end, though, this movie is just too poorly conceived.