50 First Dates Review
by Susan Granger (ssg722 AT aol DOT com)February 23rd, 2004
Susan Granger's review of "50 First Dates" (Columbia Pictures)
The cinematic chemistry between Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore clicks once again, as it did in "The Wedding Singer."
Sandler plays Henry Roth, a veterinarian on Maui whose vocation is veterinary medicine, specializing in marine mammals, and whose avocation is romancing vacationing mainlanders. Until he falls in love with Lucy - that's Barrymore - who is suffering from short-term amnesia caused by a car accident a year earlier. For her - each day begins life anew, as her doctor (Dan Aykroyd) patiently informs her, once again, that her condition is permanent. So Henry must woo and win Lucy's heart day-after-day-after-day.
Directed by Peter Segal ("Anger Management") from a script by George Wing, it's a skewed cross between "Memento" and "Groundhog Day." Problem is: Adam Sandler's no Bill Murray. But he does rise above one's expectations, as he did in "Punch-Drunk Love." And Barrymore's sweetly goofy art teacher is delectable, even as she builds a fort out of waffles. On the other hand, Rob Schneider is annoying as Henry's stoner buddy, as is Sean Astin as Lucy's steroid-popping brother. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "50 First Dates" is a sweetly giddy, nonsensical 6. Daffy and outlandish, it's nevertheless a good first-date movie with happy ending.
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