None of the movies Adam Sandler has appeared in since 1998's "The Wedding Singer" have been nearly as charming and sweet as that film. Which may be why we find Sandler re-teaming with his "Wedding Singer" co-star, Drew Barrymore, in "50 First Dates."
This romantic comedy is obviously an attempt to re-create some of that earlier film's success, as well as regain some of the audience Sandler has been losing over the years. And it does have at least a few things going for it, not the least of which is the easy, believable chemistry between Sandler and Barrymore. Also, Sandler isn't playing a character with a goofy accent, which is a refreshing change.
However, the film also has nearly as many things going against it, including the crudeness of some of the material (there are sexual and body-function jokes galore, including a vomiting-animal gag).
It's probably a matter of personal taste as to whether the charm outweighs the crudity, or vice versa.
Sandler plays Henry Roth, a veterinarian at a Hawaiian sea park who hasn't gotten close to a woman in years, and that's just the way this love-em-and-leave-em guy likes it. But as fate would have it, he starts to reconsider his attitude toward commitment when he meets the slightly loopy but endearing Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore).
The two hit it off almost immediately, but there's one serious obstacle standing in their way — a brain injury has seriously affected Lucy's short-term memory. So, in order to have her life be less confusing and more comfortable, Lucy's brother (Sean Astin) and father (Blake Clark) help her to simply "relive" the same day over and over again. Which, obviously, means there's no place in her life for Henry.
So Henry decides to try to make her remember him for longer than a day, unless he wants to spend the rest of his life making her fall in love with him every day.
Obviously, there are some similarities here to "Groundhog Day," but unlike that film, this one takes the low road far too often. In addition to all the sexual gags, there's also a supporting character here — Ula, a Pacific Islander played by Sandler's real-life buddy Rob Schneider — that verges on being racially offensive.
Sandler and Barrymore somehow manage to make the picture work at least some of the time, but you will no doubt wish the material were better — or at least higher minded.
"50 First Dates" is rated PG-13 for crude humor and references to sexual and bodily functions, violence (vehicular and some slapstick, including a beating), scattered use of strong profanity, brief drug content (references to and possession of marijuana), and some brief sexual contact. Running time: 96 minutes.
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