50 First Dates Review
by Rose 'Bams' Cooper (bams AT 3blackchicks DOT com)February 19th, 2004
'3BlackChicks Review...'
50 FIRST DATES (2004)
Rated PG-13; running time 96 minutes
Studio: Columbia Pictures (Sony)
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Seen at: Eastwood Neighborhood Cinema Group (Lansing, Michigan) Official site: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/50firstdates/
IMDB site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343660/combined
Writer: George Wing
Director: Peter Segal
Cast: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Blake Clark, Amy Hill, Pomaika'i Brown, Lusia Strus, Dan Akyroyd
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2004
Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/2004reviews/bamsfirstdates.html
As I said in my "Coming Soon" schtick last week, I generally don't like Adam Sandler movies; DUPLEX didn't endear me to Drew Barrymore, either. And if that weren't enough, THE BIG BOUNCE soured me on flicks set in Hawaii. But for some reason, 50 FIRST DATES still appealed to me, enough to make me want to see it this Valentine's Day weekend. Despite its shortcomings, I'm glad I did.
THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) Henry Roth (Adam Sandler), a veterinarian at an aquarium in Hawaii, was the love-em-and-leave-em type. Women visiting the islands for a week of tourism and fun, were just his speed; Henry was just looking for Ms. Right Now.
Then along came Lucy (Drew Barrymore), a local chicka who Henry tried, but failed, to resist. He finds her unforgettable...but unfortunately, the same can't be said for Lucy, who suffered severe short-term memory loss after a car accident. Henry tries to insinuate himself into Lucy's life, much to the dismay of her father (Blake Clark), brother Doug (Sean Astin), and friends Sue (Amy Hill) and Nick (Pomaika'i Brown). Lucy's family and friends desperately try to protect Lucy from being violently jarred from her last lasting memory - and from Henry, who threatens to bring chaos and instability into Lucy's life.
THE UPSHOT
As a critic, one of the toughest parts of my job is getting over my many built-in biases. The fortunate thing about writing with two partners is that I can afford to ignore a lot of movies, genres, and actors that I dislike. Unfortunately, I can't always do that, so I have to fight my desire to pre-judge, and take a movie at its own merits. With all that baggage slung over my shoulder, it's a wonder I could let go enough to enjoy a Sandler/Barrymore/HollywoodHawaiian production...but enjoy, I did.
Not that it wasn't an uphill battle. The trailers for 50 FIRST DATES lead me to believe it would be a typical Sandler comedy; again, though I don't particularly grok his humor, I went in expecting to have my funnybone tickled. Didn't quite happen. The scourge of modern trailers is that they give away all of the Funny Bits of a movie; the trailers for this one was no exception. The cute penguin-run-over-by-a-car bit, and the admittedly hilarious beatdown of Ula, got the biggest laughs; once they were done, there were long stretches of unfunny in between.
But once all of the hijinks were out of the way, 50 FIRST DATES settled down into a very sweet (though not overly so) romantic comedy, with some surprisingly tender moments. Sandler and Barrymore have great chemistry together, which was probably one reason why their previous shared effort, THE WEDDING SINGER, was so successful. I could really picture them being a couple, unlike the ungodly movie pairings of many of today's Hot Hollywood Stars. Though his character isn't as glamourous and dysfunctional as the others in the cast, Blake Clark as Lucy's father Marlin, reminded me a lot of my other favorite "Marlin" of late, from FINDING NEMO. And Sandler especially won me over with his song, "Forgetful Lucy". Nice touch, fella.
Even the bits that would normally irritate me - like Rob Schneider's mere presence on-screen - didn't faze me at all. Schneider, who is reportedly part Filipino, was a bit goofy at times; his Ula often seemed a mix between Dan-o and Cheech, which was confusing as hell. And surprisingly, shades of MEMENTO and GROUNDHOG DAY, enhanced rather than overshadowed this movie.
True, the overuse of Colorful Characters [did we really need Slacker Brother With A Lisp, *and* Big Native Spam Guy, *and* The Androgynous Assistant, *and* Doper Dude?], and the threat of an unrealistic climax, set me a bit on edge. But even with all that potentially going against it, 50 FIRST DATES managed to come through in the end; if not with flying colors, then at least worthy of a greenlight for good fun and watchability.
THE "NATIVE FACTOR" [ObDisclaimer: They Are Not A Monolith] I know I shouldn't pay too much attention to what marketing dweebs decide to write to promote a picture. But you'd think that a movie about Hawaii, with two "native" Hawaiian characters featured in the cast, would at least *try* to pretend they're not tokens. Bad enough that the movie's official web page doesn't mention actors Pomaika'i Brown (Nick) and Amy Hill (Sue) by name. In contrast, Allen Covert -an actor who had a tiny fraction of the screen time Brown and Hill had - got a name credit, as did all the other featured actors. The only other no-name credit? "Willie and Jocko": the penguin and the walrus.
But would someone *please* school the half-wit who came up "Nick's not very bright...after all, he has a tattoo on his face..." as a description of a native Hawaiian character? Teacher Bams sez, google "history of the tattoo" +"polynesia", half-wit.
I guess I should just be happy they didn't get the "coconut niggers" treatment.
BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE
Its foibles and flaws aside, 50 FIRST DATES makes a good date flick; perfect, almost, for a Valentine's Day rendezvous. Just don't go in expecting big yuks; you'll come out disappointed.
50 FIRST DATES rating: greenlight
Rose "Bams" Cooper
Webchick and Editor,
3BlackChicks Review
Entertainment Reviews With Flava!
Copyright Rose Cooper, 2004
EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com
http://www.3blackchicks.com/
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
