Product: 50 First Dates (Widescreen Special Edition) (2004)
Rating: 4.0
A sweet movie actually devoted to love
My brother and I live in the same world. That and this movie are what we have in common. "50 First Dates" rates as one of our favorite movies. We both call it a "sweet movie."Adam Sandler plays a player, but falls in love with Drew Barrymore, who has a brain disorder as a result of a car accident. She can remember only one day at a time. A marine biologist, Sandler (yes, he's Henry Roth, but really, he's Sandler playing the best Sandler of any of his movies where he's also playing Sandler). Instead of being bored meeting and leaving his next conquest, he focuses all his attention on this sweet young woman who cannot remember him the next day--a real challenge to a player. Her innocence triggers something deep inside and he actually falls in love with her.Every time she sees him, it is the "first" time she meets him. He is forced to woo her without the usual payoff at the end of the date. His dream is to take a boat he has been preparing for sea as a Calypso and explore the oceans. The two dreams finally merge. But getting there takes 50 first dates, so to speak, and fifty first kisses.Dad and brother (Sean Astin) help Drew to forget the car accident by restaging the last day before the accident day after day after.... Before she meets Henry, she relives the same day over and over. Henry becomes a catalyst for change. When she leaves to live in a rehabilitation center, she paints Henry over and over without knowing who he is or why she paints him.This movie is not intellectually challenging. It is not one chase scene after the other. There are no villains. "50 First Dates" is a fun, sweet, simple movie about love and acceptance, gentleness of spirit, kindness writ large, and did I say love?Note: Rob Schneider should have made it bigger in movies. His comic relief is fabulous!