Slightly above average for a romantic comedy, genius for Adam Sandler

Rating: 6/10 (18 February 2015)

There are some serious problems with "50 First Dates" but thanks to some good chemistry between the leads it works enough of the time to warrant a mild recommendation. The plot follows Adam Sandler as Henry Roth. He specializes in picking up vacationing women and then dumping them right before they go back to their regular lives. One day Henry meets a woman named Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore). The two hit it off and set up a date to meet the next morning but when Henry approaches her, she doesn't remember him. Turns out one year ago Lucy was in a car accident which left her incapable of forming new memories; every day she wakes up thinking it's Sunday, October 13. Despite her condition, Henry is smitten. Against the wishes of her family and despite the warnings by her friends, Henry attempts to romance Lucy over and over.
When the movie is focused on the romance between Henry and Lucy, it works. Sandler and Barrymore have some good chemistry and there's a genuinely romantic idea at work here. Who wouldn't want to be loved by someone who would go above and beyond to make sure they were happy, even if it meant suffering and getting their heart broken every night? Thanks to her bubbly personality, Barrymore convincingly plays a woman that is a lot of fun to be around and would be worth the time and effort required to have her fall in love with you daily. Sandler also does a good job, playing a guy that falls hard for the girl and manages to make himself seem worthy when he doesn't resort to coddling her like everyone else. Sure at first he's an unrealistically talented ladies man that's basically a scumbag (and not a particularly clever one at that) but I warmed up to him eventually. The two leads make a good couple and their characters are well developed with some subtle touches (for example, you know that Lucy loves elephants not because she says so, but because she's constantly painting them). This is what manages to save the movie from the dreadful comedy that is typical of the Happy Madison brand.
The romance and the couple involved are charming, but whenever the story focuses on the "comedy" side characters, you want to fast-forward through the film. Typical of Adam Sandler's brand of humor these are all either weird ethnicities, are physically deformed, unattractive and/or speaking in funny voices. I absolutely hate this kind of comedy. Yeah I know it appeals to some people, but so does a well-placed kick to the crotch (oh wait, there's some of those in the movie). Here's what you can look forward to cringing at: Rob Schneider as Ula, a marijuana enthusiast with a weird eye that hates his wife; Sean Astin as Marlin, Lucy's lisping, steroid-addicted brother; Lusia Strus as Alexa, a dimwitted marine biologist (or marine assistant, whatever) whose gender is unclear, and a bunch of other one-joke characters that contribute nothing worthwhile to the film. If the story could have just disposed of these time-wasters and the sub-plot where Henry is a commitment avoiding womanizer (which gets suddenly dropped about a third into the film anyway) the whole thing could have been very sweet and very romantic. I can picture it now, the doomed romance, the question of "does love conquer all?" We might even have a bittersweet ending, reminding us that it is better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all because who could really keep up this elaborate romance for the rest of their life? Someone out there please rip off this movie and forget to include all of the comedy! I have very mixed feelings about the movie overall. I even get some inner dilemmas that are totally unrelated to the general plot of the movie! As a responsible adult, I feel like I should be obligated to take away a half star from "50 First Dates" for having a lame joke that involves spoiling the ending of "The Sixth Sense" but the movie also has a scene where Rob Schneider gets brutally beaten by an aluminum baseball bat-wielding Barrymore, so I think those two cancel each other out.
In the end there is enough in the film that works to make it overall a pleasant experience, particularly because the further into the story you go, the less Adam Sandler's traditional humor is present. It's too bad the film makers lacked confidence in their love story because it really could have been great and as is, it's just OK, with the good chemistry and compelling love plot raising it to just above average. If lame humor that at times involves a walrus projectile vomiting, constant references to sea animal genitalia and a lot of mean-spirited humor is exactly what you're looking for, you'll have a great time (though I wonder if you'll appreciate the love story). If what I just described seems like utter rubbish it is... but that stuff doesn't last too long and by the end you'll have mostly forgotten about it so you'll still have a good time thanks to the leads. (Theatrical version on DVD, August 2013)