Product: 50 First Dates (Widescreen Special Edition) (2004)
Rating: 3.0
Barrymore Saves a Sinking Sandler
Every movie has it's great moments and it's embarrassments. Sometimes these embarrassments bring down what promises to be an enjoyable piece of entertainment. The embarrassment in this movie is Adam Sandler himself.If you like Adam Sandler, if you like his gutter humor, then you might actually like this movie. I, on the other hand, found Sandler grossly miscast as leading man Henry Roth. I found the first 15 minutes of the movie very painful to watch because of the walrus vomit, the pointless androgynous character, and the lowbrow sexual comments. To me it felt like Adam Sandler said, "Hey, my fans won't like this movie if I don't put some of this stuff in because that's what they like." I must say I almost turned it off and threw it away because of the humor (I received it as a Secret Santa gift).But I stayed with it, and I'm glad I did. Drew Barrymore is the saving angel of this film. She plays Lucy Whitmore, a young woman who was in a car crash about a year earlier and, as a result of head injuries, can no longer turn short-term memories into long-term memories. She is a blank slate every morning, and Sandler's character has to get her to fall in love with him every single day. Barrymore shows a true acting ability by carefully walking a tightrope from making Lucy either too pathetic or too comic. She brings warmth and sensitivity to the role and certainly makes up for what Sandler doesn't have. She is also drop-dead gorgeous, and that doesn't hurt at all.That isn't to say Sandler doesn't have some good moments so long as it fits the movie. One scene I laughed at was his second meeting with Lucy. He's unaware of her memory problem and says he spent the whole night thinking about her while he stroked his walrus. The double entendre (and Drew Barrymore's classic reaction) was well done AND appropriate to the movie.Here's my problem. Sandler can't act. He is as wooden as William Shatner and just about as funny as well. I liked the fact that he isn't a good looking guy and even pokes fun at himself by telling Lucy that he's sorry he's not better looking. It just proves that even us average Joes can fall in love and get the girl. Too often he falls into his SNL schtick (which I never liked) and threatens to pull the entire movie down with it.A minor problem I have is Rob Schneider. How could they cast him as Sandler's Hawaiian best friend, Hula? Was there no truly Hawaiian actor who could have played the part? This reminds me of a time 15 years with the musical Miss Saigon when the acting union protested the casting of a Caucasian as a Eurasian.The last half hour of the film is the best (though Sandler does, sadly, do his gutter schtick on occasion -- somebody should tell him that raising his voice is not acting). The ending, which I won't reveal, is the best I've seen in ages and is not the typical ending Hollywood would have used.Once again, Sandler stinks. It's Drew Barrymore who lifts this movie from the dung heap. That's why I can only give it 3 out of 5 stars.