`50 First Dates' is not a great movie, but with its surprising blend of a decent sincere love story and comedy, the film succeeds in entertaining us.

Rating: 8/10 (22 February 2004)

One can pretty much predict how bad an Adam Sandler flick can be. His last major big-budget movie, `Anger Management,' although having Jack Nicholson, could not keep itself afloat. After all, jokes and great actors cannot outweigh a lack of reasonable plot. Nonetheless, Sandler's flicks for the most part are big money makers and his fans are always there for him. With his new movie, `50 First Dates,' Sandler brings back his brand of slapstick and pubescent humor to actually make a film that is somewhat good. In fact, `50 First Dates' has a surprising bit of sentiment to a love story that seems like it came from the Farrelly brothers.	`50 First Dates' tells the story of Henry Roth (Sandler), a sea-park vet who meets a woman at a local restaurant whom to his chagrin has lost her short-term memory. He realizes this when after meeting her, he goes back to the restaurant and finds that she does not even remember who he is. He learns from a waitress that the girl's name is Lucy (Drew Barrymore) and that she was in an accident about a year ago in which she sustained a head injury. As such, Lucy's father, brother, and the workers at the restaurant all make Lucy think that she's living the same day over again.
Lucy's father and brother warn Henry to stay away from her feeling that his presence will only confuse her when she forgets about the day. But everyone knows that letting go of love is not an easy process. As such, Henry puts together a video in which he shows Lucy pictures of the crash and gently lets her know what has happened to her, and has happened during the previous year that she has missed. But the problem is that Henry will have to do this day in and day out-constantly reliving first dates for Lucy.
Although the premise seems fallible if not insulting to those who suffer from forms of memory loss, this film's heart is in the right place. One can tell that the characters genuinely care about each other. Sandler provides his shtick of making up songs about a pretty girl that he loves who has lost her memory. Furthermore, the video that he keeps remaking for Lucy describing the changes in her life and in the world that she does not remember is actually heartfelt.	On to the comedy aspect-it did not start out well. A perfect example that this film was heading in the wrong direction happened in a scene where a walrus vomits all over a fellow veterinarian. As an audience member, one cannot decide whether to laugh or be disgusted. Moreover, it would not be a Sandler flick without some character getting beat up-in this case its Rob Schneider who plays Henry's pal Ula, a burned out shark catcher.
It was nice to associate Sean Astin with something other than `Lord of the Rings.' He plays Lucy's brother Doug, who is obsessed with perfecting his body-especially with the help of steroids. Other than his gross display of peck flexing, Doug speaks with a lisp and cannot fight to save his life. His funniest scene occurs when he discusses a supposed friend's problem of having wet dreams and his fear that it could be related to steroid use. The doctor, played by Dan Akroyd, simply says, `Get off the sauce!'	`50 First Dates' is not a great movie, but with its surprising blend of a decent sincere love story and comedy, the film succeeds in entertaining us. ***