Sandler's latest flick funny romance story
By Julian Seiden
Issue date: 2/20/04 Section: Entertainment
Romantic comedies can be scary things. Usually, when one hears the term "romantic comedy," it translates to "dumb movie about love that isn't really funny but my girlfriend is going to drag me to it anyway." They have a tendency to lean more toward the romantic and more away from the comedy; hence, dumb. But fear not! "50 First Dates" has what it takes to impress the significant other and make both parties laugh, too.
"50 First Dates" stars Adam Sandler as Henry Roth, a marine veterinarian in Hawaii who is more used to having one-night stands with tourists than actually settling for just one. The one who he decides to settle for is Lucy, played by Drew Barrymore. Sadly, Lucy has no short-term memory, so every day she forgets everything from the day before. Needless to say, this is going to make the relationship somewhat difficult.
So because he loves her, and she continually doesn't know who he is, he must enlist the help of his friend Ula (Rob Schneider), her dad (Sandler regular Blake Clark; played the farmer in "The Waterboy") and her brother (Sean Astin). Madcap situations and touching tenderness ensue. It may be a funny movie, and it may be a romantic movie, but it's still a romantic comedy, so the madcap situations and touching tenderness are required. They are good, though.
As I mentioned, this movie is a very surprising and satisfying mix of romance and comedy. I laughed out loud a bunch of times (most of them due to Schneider, more on that later), and along with your usual Sandler humor, there's some wittiness as well. At the same time, there was a lot of lovey-dovey stuff that wasn't painful to sit through and I actually enjoyed. Sandler's character shows some real tenderness and care for his love; it made me believe the amusing lengths he'd go through, hence justifying them and making the movie stronger.
I don't know what everyone's problem is with Drew Barrymore. Some of you really like her, most of you really don't. If you are the latter (English major's word for "the second one"), you probably avoid her movies just out of principle. In some cases ("Home Fries"), this is a good thing. In other cases (this movie), you should give her the benefit of the doubt. While Drew's character isn't too complex (except for the whole no memory thing), she does a great job being that character. Same with Sandler, who has been in a couple romantic comedies but I feel this is his best acting for the genre.
"50 First Dates" stars Adam Sandler as Henry Roth, a marine veterinarian in Hawaii who is more used to having one-night stands with tourists than actually settling for just one. The one who he decides to settle for is Lucy, played by Drew Barrymore. Sadly, Lucy has no short-term memory, so every day she forgets everything from the day before. Needless to say, this is going to make the relationship somewhat difficult.
So because he loves her, and she continually doesn't know who he is, he must enlist the help of his friend Ula (Rob Schneider), her dad (Sandler regular Blake Clark; played the farmer in "The Waterboy") and her brother (Sean Astin). Madcap situations and touching tenderness ensue. It may be a funny movie, and it may be a romantic movie, but it's still a romantic comedy, so the madcap situations and touching tenderness are required. They are good, though.
As I mentioned, this movie is a very surprising and satisfying mix of romance and comedy. I laughed out loud a bunch of times (most of them due to Schneider, more on that later), and along with your usual Sandler humor, there's some wittiness as well. At the same time, there was a lot of lovey-dovey stuff that wasn't painful to sit through and I actually enjoyed. Sandler's character shows some real tenderness and care for his love; it made me believe the amusing lengths he'd go through, hence justifying them and making the movie stronger.
I don't know what everyone's problem is with Drew Barrymore. Some of you really like her, most of you really don't. If you are the latter (English major's word for "the second one"), you probably avoid her movies just out of principle. In some cases ("Home Fries"), this is a good thing. In other cases (this movie), you should give her the benefit of the doubt. While Drew's character isn't too complex (except for the whole no memory thing), she does a great job being that character. Same with Sandler, who has been in a couple romantic comedies but I feel this is his best acting for the genre.
