2004 / 106 Minutes / PG-13
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

I’m not really sure when it happened and no one is more surprised than I am, but somewhere along the line I went from despising Adam Sandler to actually considering myself an Adam Sandler fan. Perhaps it was “The Wedding Singer” that started this strange development. Yeah, I think that was it. Then I liked “Little Nicky” (I watched it again a couple months back and, uh, I don’t know why I once liked it so much, it is rather stupid, even for a Sandler flick). Then came “Big Daddy” which is perhaps my favorite of his comedies. It was cute, it was hilarious and it was wacky and fun. The same can be said of “Happy Gilmore” and, from revisiting it, “Billy Madison”. “Mr. Deeds” was also a lot of fun and had its own goofy sense of atmosphere. And “Punch-Drunk Love” was an absorbing comedy/drama that put a whole new spin on the standard Sandler character and put it in more of a real world situation. Even Sandler detractors were suddenly looking at him with, well, not really respect but at least a sense of appreciation for what he is capable of doing. Then came “Anger Management” which I thought was fairly funny at the time. In retrospect, however, it’s not all that great. The problem is, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, it’s like Sandler has compromised his usual brand of slightly surreal, off-kilter, proudly moronic humor to a more mainstream sensibility and has, therefore, taken what makes him so special and compromised it. “The Wedding Singer” was more straightforward than his usual films, yes, but it still held a certain undeniable twinkle that was pure Sandler. The moment where he sings “Love Stinks” at a wedding reception, for example, is a classic Sandler moment. “Anger Management” cast him as a straight man, which is a mistake. With “50 First Dates”, Sandler seems to be working at a middle ground between the mainstreaming that took place in “Anger Management” and the hijinks of his earlier films. And, as a comedy, it isn’t real successful.

But, for a moment, let me sidetrack to the actual plot of this film. In “50 First Dates”, Sandler plays a guy who is classically afraid of commitment (as all men are in romantic comedies, so it would seem). He is so afraid of commitment, in fact, that he only gets involved with tourists because they’ll be out of town in a week or so. He is content to keep loving women until they leave and hang out with the animals at the Sea World-like facility in which he works until, shock of shocks, he one day meets Drew Barrymore. Drew is a beautiful, enchanting woman who is just as goofy as Sandler in her own way and both of them fall almost instantly in love. The only problem is that Drew cannot form any short term memories because of an automobile accident. Therefore, she only remembers Adam for one day. The next day, he has to woo her all over again. In fact, he must win her over every single day all over again, only to have her forget him as soon as she goes to sleep. As you can imagine, this is a slight problem.

So, if the comedy only works sporadically in this movie, you may be wondering why the hell I’m giving it such a high grade. The answer is simple: the movie doesn’t cop out. The jokes may be sort of obvious and kinda lame, but the premise is an interesting one and the movie is smart enough to play it out for all its emotional and dramatic potential (as well as a few comedic ones that actually succeed). The movie treats Drew’s ailment seriously (as it should) and examines the pathos underlying the plight. Drew and Adam make for an engaging couple (probably because they fit in their own goofball way) and we care about their love affair and how it will all turn out. Also, thankfully, I never really knew what was going to happen next in this film. This is damn near revolutionary in a romantic comedy, I gotta tell you. I also respected the way this movie did not wrap everything up in a tidy package at the end. She doesn’t miraculously get cured. She doesn’t get bonked on the head and go back to normal. The writing is a lot more interesting than that and the ending is more of a manner of compromise and magical connection than simple screenwriter convenience. I respected that a lot. This movie has some magical moments and some very romantic ones as well. It also has compelling characters and an undeniable sweetness.

Unfortunately, its jokes are all fairly obvious and the quirky supporting characters are just a little too quirky to be believable. They just don’t work all that well, I’m sorry to say, even if the sight of Sean Astin in a muscle tee shirt with a Sylvester the Cat lisp is fairly amusing the first couple of times. And the European quasi-lesbian animal trainer character doesn’t work all that well at all.

But it’s a sweet little film that is good-natured and genuinely emotional. And, quite frankly, that’s a bit harder to achieve than a movie like “Billy Madison”. But, as a bachelor prone to drinking every weekend, “Billy Madison” and “Happy Gilmore” are probably going to find their way into my DVD Player more often.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2004 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Dale's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.