ROM-COM WITH GOOD HUMOR, BUT DOES WEAR THIN AT TIMES

Rating: 7/10 (1 August 2004)

*WARNING--Possible spoilers*: Nice romantic comedy with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore in the leads. There are some serious laugh out loud moments, mostly due to Rob Schneider's character, "ULA." It centers around an outdoor theme park vet who falls for a sweet lady in a restaurant, in Hawaii. The main problem with 50FD is that how does one overcome the repetitive, proverbial "One Trick Pony" joke that surrounds Barrymore's character? Well, outlandish attempts on Sandler's part to keep continually wooing her helps. However, it tends to make the pic drag here and there, and sometimes this gets more than slightly tedious. The chemistry is better than average between them, and it shows. Unfortunately 50FD also commits a droll sin of introducing animals for cutesy, quasi-humorous moments, and tries to play that for laughs, too. Nice try, but doesn't get Nanna a new pair of shoes. Dan Aykroyd is painfully dull as the physician who's treating Barrymore's character, which doesn't help the film one iota. Throw in a few zany locals, and several earnest attempts at poignancy; and you've scored about a mixed bag. There's some crude humor, so early Sandler fans won't be disappointed. The ending was very sweet, yet was a welcome sight, as 50FD also runs pretty long in the tooth at 99 minutes. It certainly wasn't awful, that's for sure. In fact, 50FD would be a pretty smart date movie or a couple of chuckles on a rainy afternoon. In lieu of this benefit, I recommend it. RECOMMENDED.