Szenenphoto aus 50 First Dates, © Columbia Pictures Corporation, Flower Films, Happy Madisonchemistry in "The Wedding Singer" struck theatrical gold in 1998. Although ì
its goofy high-concept premise won't bear much scrutiny, it offers a less ì
predictable ride than their first pairing, and lush Hawaiian locations to ì
boot. Pooling their boxoffice savvy and considerable onscreen charm, the duo ì
look destined for another romantic comedy happy ending.
Sandler, who reteams here with "Anger Management" director Peter Segal, plays ì
Henry Roth (if the name is a nod to the novelist, there's no indication). An ì
aquarium vet on Oahu, he's made something of a cottage industry of satisfying ì
vacationing women's desires for holiday flings. The love-'em-and-leave-'em ì
approach suits him fine because he's planning a yearlong boat trip to Alaska ì
to study an unspoiled walrus habitat.
Before he can head north, though, true love strikes. While cooling his heels ì
in a coffee shop after a sailing mishap, Henry spots Lucy (Barrymore) in a ì
booth, building a tepee out of waffles. Although local girls are anathema to ì
his game plan, Henry chats her up, sparks fly, and they're both smitten. But ì
the next time they meet, Lucy doesn't know who he is.
Cafe owner Sue (Amy Hill) fills him in: A head injury in a car accident has ì
left Lucy with no short-term memory. She remembers everything up until the ì
crash, but each day's experiences evaporate overnight. In the year since the ì
crackup, Lucy's protective father (Blake Clark, terrifically gruff and kind) ì
and brother (Sean Astin) have worked assiduously to shield her from the ì
trauma. With a weary resignation, they repeatedly re-create the same day, ì
until reality intrudes on the elaborate ruse and Lucy has to face the truth ì
-- one day at a time.
Because any relationship for Lucy is essentially a one-night stand, Henry's ì
friend Ula (Rob Schneider) points out that she's the perfect match for Henry. ì
With his ever-present gaggle of giggling kids, the unhappily married Ula gets ì
vicarious thrills from Henry's exploits, but he just as readily supports his ì
attempts to win over this most challenging of conquests.
Although Henry's conversion from cad to earnest lover proceeds at an ì
improbable velocity, simpatico audiences won't look far beyond the frothy ì
surface. George Wing's script proffers the idea that making your partner fall ì
in love with you anew every day is the ultimate romantic notion. Lurking in ì
this murky mix are all sorts of nagging questions. What kind of relationship ì
can be built and sustained on first impressions? Is brain damage the surest ì
route to domestic bliss?
But helmer Segal keeps things moving, capitalizing on the down-to-earth ease ì
between his two leads. They're surrounded by idiosyncratic supporting ì
characters, not to mention a joker of a walrus. As Ula, who's in a perpetual ì
fog from partaking of one of Hawaii's natural resources, Schneider gets the ì
island vibe right. Hill and Nephi Pomaikai Brown, who plays the cafe's ì
short-order cook, deliver local color and lingo.
Astin trades in his hobbit persona for fishnet shirts and a lisp, providing ì
the strongest comic support as Lucy's iron-pumping, steroid-popping brother. ì
Dan Aykroyd shows up briefly, and Lusia Strus gives it her all as Henry's ì
assistant of indeterminate gender, but the over-the-top character should have ì
been scrapped before shooting began.
Cinematographer Jack Green ("Unforgiven," "The Bridges of Madison County") ì
emphasizes the natural beauty of the Hawaiian island rather than its ì
tourist-attraction opulence, and production designer Alan Au brings whimsy to ì
the interiors. The film is dedicated to Sandler's late father." (Sheri ì
Linden, Hollywood Reporter, February 13, 2004)
"THE amnesia-themed "50 First Dates" is a best-forgotten romantic reunion ì
between Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, who served as Sandler's only ì
credible love interest in his most tolerable movie, "The Wedding Singer."
Women are generally so irrelevant in Sandler's world that no one even ì
remembers that Marisa Tomei was the female lead in "Anger Management" or that ì
Winona Ryder did the honors in "Mr. Deeds."
The problem with "50 First Dates" isn't with Barrymore, who can more than ì
hold her own with Sandler, or with their palpable sexual chemistry.
Nor is there anything seriously wrong with the basic premise (attributed to ì
George Wing), a contrived but moderately clever and fairly sweet variation on ì
"Groundhog Day," which has an exasperated Sandler having to win over daily a ì
woman with absolutely no short-term memory.
The film repeatedly disappoints because Sandler and his director, Peter Segal ì
of the much funnier "Anger Management," have so little faith in focusing on ì
the two characters' plight that they interrupts the romance repeatedly for ì
vulgar, Farrelly brothers-style sexual and ethnic jokes that are so ì
relentlessly unfunny they may not even rouse Sandler's core constituency of ì
12-year-old males.
Sandler plays Henry Roth, a veterinarian on Maui and a most unlikely babe ì
magnet who limits his romantic conquests to non-committal tourists because ì
his college girlfriend ran off with an older woman.
But then he falls hard for Barrymore's Lucy, a sweetly goofy art teacher who ì
he first spies trying to build a fort out of waffles at a local breakfast ì
joint.
Sandler wins her over quickly, but then learns he must do it every single ì
day, since her memory is wiped clean every night due to an accident.
She can't even remember meeting him the previous day, so every night is a ì
one-night stand.
It requires a huge suspension of disbelief to buy that Lucy's father (Blake ì
Clark) and her brother have contrived, for utterly obscure reasons, to have ì
Lucy live out every day of her life the same as the last, thanks to a stack ì
of newspapers from the day of the accident, a videotaped football game and ì
daily watchings of "The Sixth Sense," whose ending surprises Lucy every time.
Sandler, and especially Barrymore, still mine a certain poignancy from the ì
situation, particularly when Henry starts beginning Lucy's days with a ì
videotape updating her on what's happened in the year since the accident.
But then Henry, who's been assured by a doctor (Dan Aykroyd) that her ì
condition is incurable, has to decide whether he can live with it for the ì
rest of her life.
That's the good part of the movie. The bad parts of the movie, and there are ì
many, focus on a walrus' sex life and many scenes with a pathetically unfunny ì
Rob Schneider as Henry's one-eyed native Hawaiiian buddy.
Then there is the recurring homoerotic subtext in most of Sandler's movie, ì
which in "50 First Dates" is positioned so flagrantly it will keep his fans ì
buzzing for years in Internet chat rooms.
Besides Henry's sexually ambiguous assistant at the aquarium and a formerly ì
female friend of Lucy's who has had sex reassignment surgery, much footage is ì
devoted to Lucy's lisping, steroid-crazed bodybuilder brother played by Sean ì
Astin, who pretty much squanders all the good will he generated for "The Lord ì
of the Rings: The Return of the King."
The movie's opening scene goes as far as to strongly suggest Henry himself is ì
bisexual.
The issue is never raised again ? too bad the filmmakers didn't also forget ì
another 50 percent or so of "50 First Dates." (Lou Lumenick, New York Post, ì
13. February 2004)
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