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| 50 First Dates |
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  (7/10)
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Runtime: 99 m |
| Public Rating: 7.54 (26 votes) |
Director: Peter Segal |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy/Romance |
Year: 2004 |
| Writer(s): George Wing |
| Distributor: Columbia Pictures |
| Reviewed by: Nate Anderson |
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Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Dan Aykroyd, and Blake Clark
50 First Dates is a fun, charming movie with quite a few laughs and more surprisingly, a lot of heart. This is the kind of movie that is so good-natured you will leave the theater with a warm fuzzy feeling and a grin on your face. The movie stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore in their second pairing, after The Wedding Singer. Like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, they share a great chemistry together.
Adam Sandler plays Henry Roth, a marine biologist at a Sea World type park in Hawaii. He also enjoys picking up single, female tourists and having romantic flings with them and then immediately forgetting them once they have left.
One day he wanders into a café and is quite taken with Lucy (Drew Barrymore), who he watches as she makes a teepee out of waffles. Smitten, he introduces himself to her and they seem to hit it off with a date to meet at the café the next morning for breakfast again. However, when the next morning comes around, she has no recollection of who he is. It is explained to Henry that Lucy was in a terrible car accident and no longer has any short term memory.
It is revealed that Lucy’s father (Blake Clark) and her brother (Sean Astin) continue the charade that everyday is the same Sunday morning after her accident, her father’s birthday. They refill her shampoo bottle, throw out the extra birthday cake, wash the clothes she wore and make sure everything is exactly right. The café owners, who understand Lucy’s condition, continue the charade when Lucy comes in every morning for breakfast.
It all falls apart though one morning when she is issued a parking ticket and finds out that eight months has passed since the accident, none of which she has any memory of. She finds this, understandably, quite unsettling. Henry, however, takes matters into his own hands and suggests a different approach to Lucy’s condition. He suggests that they use a videotape to break the news to her, and later a video camera to record the recent events in her life since her brain can’t.
Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore share the same wonderful chemistry they had in The Wedding Singer. Adam actually takes a chance this time around though and plays a very sweet and loveable guy and leaves out the rage and anger that have fueled the majority of his other films. Drew turns in another good performance as well, playing Lucy’s ailment with a realistic sense and never plays it for cheap laughs. The film handles it quite well and with a bit of honesty you wouldn’t expect. There are no miracle cures and she doesn’t suddenly start remembering things again. But what I will say is that the ending is a surprise, but a pleasant one.
Overall, 50 First Dates is a sweet and charming film and is a wonderful way to spend an hour and a half with a loved one. For the most part, it avoids the gross-out humor that has shown up in a lot of other Adam Sandler movies and is all the better for it. Well done.
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 Printable Version
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Commentary with Drew Barrymore and Peter Segal, Deleted Scenes, Music Videos,
Behind the Scenes featurettes,
Trailers,
Gag Reel.
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