It's a bit like "Groundhog Day" in that Henry quickly discovers that he can take advantage of the information he gleans on each "date" (such as the fact that she loves lilies and that the smell of fish on his hands reminds her of her fisherman father) to accelerate the seduction process on the next one.īut that's where the similarities end. Rather than run, though, Henry determines that he will try - and, Lord, how he tries - to re-woo her every day. Her doting family (Blake Clark as her patient father and a hilarious Sean Astin as her lisping, steroid-addicted brother) go through an elaborate daily charade to keep her thinking that, putting out a fake newspaper on the stoop each morning and sitting through a videotape of "The Sixth Sense" each night before bed. In short order, Henry finds out that Lucy, as the result of a car accident a year earlier, can't remember anything from one day to the next. And who wouldn't? Barrymore turns on all her daffy charisma here, which, even at half-wattage, is enough to make a man go all giggly (just ask David Letterman). That is, until he meets Lucy Whitmore (Barrymore) and falls - hard - for her. Commitment-shy - thanks to a broken heart suffered in college, a bit of back story meant to make him look less like a cad than a victim - he's an island Lothario in cargo shorts and flip-flops, seducing and dumping one tourist after another. Of course, Henry himself is no saint, at least not when we first meet him.
50 FIRST DATES MOVIE DESCRIPTION MOVIE
How can there not be in a movie with Rob Schneider, who, as Henry's Hawaiian best friend, Ula, is all long-haired, over-sexed, pot-smoking, plumber-cracked id? He's everything Henry's kind, gentlemanly suitor is not: an irresponsible, lust-wracked imp. Sure, there's plenty of dumb, vulgar humor. You might call "50 First Dates" a chick flick for guys, with a pH balance in perfect equilibrium between the crass and the sweet. Henry's a little bit like "Punch Drunk Love's" love-struck Barry Egan - minus that character's poor impulse control. Thankfully, he's more "Wedding Singer" than "Waterboy" here, and his portrayal of Hawaiian marine theme-park veterinarian Henry Roth, softened by another dose of the chemistry he and Barrymore enjoyed in "Singer," seems closer to the actor's endearingly sincere schlemiel center. Mind you, I'm no great fan of Sandler's oeuvre. Political correctness can obviously become a straitjacket for humor, but Rob Schneider’s Native Hawaiian is so relentlessly obnoxious as Henry’s best pal and Lusia Strus as Henry’s sex-starved assistant of indeterminate gender is so heavily ridiculed - and both are so strenuously unfunny - that it would not be surprising were their characterizations to spark protests.IN "50 FIRST Dates," a sneakily charming romantic comedy about a man courting a brain-damaged woman unable to retain more than 24 hours' worth of short-term memory, Adam Sandler wakes up every morning having to make Drew Barrymore fall in love with him over and over and over again. When the film, written by George Wing and directed by Peter Segal, isn’t unbearably treacly about Henry and Lucy’s predicament, it’s gratuitously crass to a jaw-dropping degree, no small negative accomplishment in these times.
However, she’s so pretty and sweet Henry just can’t help but pursue her it’s a safe bet that love will find a way around a short-circuited memory. Since she can’t remember Henry from one day to the next, Lucy is not exactly the best prospect for romance. In short, they relive the day of the accident, minus the accident, over and over. Her loving father (Blake Clark, who gives the film’s only creditable performance), her steroid-popping bodybuilding brother (Sean Astin) and family friends have gone to extreme lengths to protect Lucy from becoming aware of her condition. Some months before, while riding with her father, their car hit a stray cow, causing Lucy to bump her head so hard that she has suffered permanent temporal lobe damage that has left her with severe short-term memory loss. He strikes up a conversation with her only to discover the next morning she has no memory of him. Sandler’s Henry, a marine animal veterinarian at a Sea World-type park in Hawaii, happily services vacationing hotties until he crosses paths with Barrymore’s Lucy, who has breakfast every morning at a seaside cafe.
They don’t seem to be acting but rather engaged in a contest as to see who can most consistently recite dialogue with a catch in his or her voice.
It reteams Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, a charming duo in “The Wedding Singer,” but here either separately or together they’re just dreadful. It’s only February, but the abysmal “50 First Dates” will be hard to beat as the worst movie of the year.