Odd premise for a rom-com, but it works

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2007)

Drew Barrymore as the amnesiac Lucy, is wonderful in this movie. She's sweet, vulnerable, and yet strong in her own way at the same time. Adam Sandler drops his routine "ornery annoying dumb guy" persona, and he adapts well here, playing his Henry character as noble, sensitive, and amiable. The two characters are pleasing and easy to identify with.
The good work of both leads helps this offbeat premise work. A young woman suffers from a condition caused by a traumatic injury where her daily memory is erased each night when she goes to sleep; she wakes each morning thinking it's a day a few years earlier. Her family insulate her in this fantasy, for obvious reasons. This is where suspension of disbelief is necessary, as plot holes dealing with how Lucy's life would be are easy to catch. Most obvious: as time wore on, wouldn't Lucy be shocked, waking to see her parents had aged by several years? And if she sees a mirror, she'd notice her own aging. It's hard to imagine living like this, which is why this movie actually moves more toward a drama than a comedy.
However, in all rom-coms, love conquers all, even the daily obliteration of the relationship. The behavior of people doesn't seem likely, and the ending opens a lot of questions, so giving the movie poetic license again comes into play. This movie is just about romantic fantasy, so for the sake of enjoying the flick, those questions are best left unasked.