Product: 50 First Dates (Widescreen Special Edition) (2004)
Rating: 3.0
Room for improvement, but still quite heartwarming.
A brief synopsis -- Lucy Whitmore (Barrymore) was in a car accident one year ago, and as a result of her injuries has lost all capacity to retain short-term memories (she can still recall everything in her life up until the accident). One day, local playboy and veterinarian Henry Roth (Sandler) meets Lucy in a diner and the two hit it off terrifically. They make plans to meet again the next day, but by then Lucy has entirely forgotten who Henry is. Not to be deterred, Henry tries every possible tactic to woo her, but has to start all over again every day.My thoughts -- I'm always apprehensive about Adam Sandler movies. I loved The Wedding Singer, but was not at all enthralled with Anger Management. 50 First Dates falls somewhere in between. The basic plotline is very sweet, and could have made a five-star movie, but at some points Sandler falls back into his cruder slapstick mode, ruining otherwise perfect moments. Characters like Ula (Rob Schneider), Henry's grotesque friend, and Alexa (Lusia Strus), his disturbingly manly assistant, serve no real purpose other than to provide a few cheap laughs involving blood, vomit, etc. But Henry and Lucy really do have chemistry, and the scenes that focus on them are very touching. In these instances we see the more sensitive side of Sandler.The rest of the supporting cast was also hit-or-miss. Many characters were forgettable at best (pardon the unintended pun). But Sean Astin and Blake Clark both turned in great performances. Clark plays Lucy's extremely protective father, who first tries to deter Henry, but eventually comes to work with him in hopes of finding a solution to Lucy's memory problem. Astin is hilarious as Lucy's not-too-bright (and very badly dressed), steroid-popping body-builder brother (though the lisp would have been better left out). His physical comedic antics alone often steal the show.As with the acting, the plot was neither here nor there. The central romance between Henry and Lucy is heartwarming and, for the most part, well done (though not entirely realistic). But there were numerous irrelevant asides thrown in for cheap laughs. References to bodily fluids and male sexual organs are so frequent as to become tedious. It is also choc full of stereotypes regarding Hawaiians and others. What I did like, however, was the non-contrived ending. Once would expect a magical fairy-tale conclusion where Lucy suddenly recovers and they all live happily ever after, but this does not happen. While the ending is not really believable when one thinks in terms of the real world, neither is it cliched, and I liked this.So overall I'm rather stuck in the middle on this one. If you're a big fan of Sandler's cruder side, you'll get some of that, but the romantic part may seem sappy to you. If you prefer a more sensitive romantic comedy, you'll get elements of that as well, but you may find parts of the movie vulgar and distasteful. The movie wasn't horrible, but neither was it perfect. However, though I won't be purchasing it for my own collection, it is worth seeing and I'd recommend renting it when it comes out on DVD and video.