Standard feel-good rom-com

Rating: 6/10 (21 April 2007)

The key to whether you should watch this film is how much you can stomach Adam Sandler. If you think he's great you'll love this. If you can't stand him then you will probably not find much here to distract you from that.
Personally, I've never been a fan of his. But I watched this because I quite liked the idea of this film. Let's face it - it's not often you get a movie about a woman (Drew Barrymore) who is involved in an accident which leaves her with a 24-hour memory span so that her would-be boyfriend has to make up ways to 'meet' and make her fall in love with him every day. So I watched it, and it was OK. A good few laughs plus some nice 'aaaah' moments and a pleasing soundtrack thrown in as well.
Downsides? I could have done without some of the annoying sidekicks. Admittedly the two leads couldn't have sustained the whole film on their own, but for me there are a few too many 'quirky' hangers-on, playing - largely unsuccessfully - for laughs. The exceptions to this include the slightly more classy turns from Dan Ayckroyd as the doctor, Blake Clark as the girl's father, and the show-stealing walrus who is the star attraction at the zoo where Sandler's character works as a vet.
So overall, 50 First Dates is not great, but it doesn't pretend to be. It's a nice, amusing, diverting, feel-good movie that will leave you with a smile on your face and - just possibly - make you despise the male lead a little less than you did before.