Charming romantic Barrymore/Sander movie with some great moments and gorgeous scenery but not as great as wedding singer.

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2004)

Let me start by saying this movie was actually much better then the previews made it out to be which is a plus because it's usually the other way around in movie land. Secondly,I found there to be both positives and negatives about 50 first dates. On the plus side, this movie works solely because of the chemistry between Barrymore and Sander which is so wholesomely natural and real that it wouldn't surprise me if they have a movie number three in the next few years. This is a movie that varies a bit from wedding singer in that the true hilarious moments are few and far between(though there are some.) This succeeds more as a romantic comedy but more on the romance side then the comedy. The premise of Barrymore's Lucy's problem is a unique one and Sandler and Barrymore play their roles with style demonstrating their chemistry is still as strong as ever.
The main negative of the movie actually isn't really a negative, more an observation that has already been noted by several IMDb reviewers. Many of the times the movie tries for wit, particularly in the beginning, it falls a bit flat. Not to give anything away to people who have yet to see this, but some of the mildly gross stuff just wasn't funny-and I didn't hear next to anyone laughing either. These jokes try WAY to hard and are actually more of an annoyance, detracting from the storyline rather then adding to the movie in any way. Anyone who goes into this expecting the exact kind of humor as wedding singer maybe disappointed, this errs way more on the side of romance and sentimentality then true hilarious comedy, whereas wedding singer had both. In my opinion, this movie was much better then expected, way above average and delightful in many respects, the romance played out between the characters was wonderful due to the reasons listed above. And there are few screen couples who have such a natural and honest screen chemistry as Barrymore and Sandler.
The scenery I must mention as well,because it is absolutely wonderful. This movie could also serve as a tourism advertisement for the state of Hawai, the setting was that beautiful. All in all, I am glad I saw 50 first dates, it was a delightful and very good movie with some very poignant moments, but I still prefer wedding singer, which is one of my favorite movies in the world. But 50 First Dates, all in all, is a great movie and I'm sure I will watch this again at some point. My rating is 8, maybe even 8.5 of of 10.