To me, the movie 50 First Dates cant seem to make up its’ mind on what kind of movie it should be. At times it tries to be a dumb comedy, and at others it tries to rise itself into the Romantic Comedy genre. What do I mean? Look below.
~~Synopsis
Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a marine veterinarian in Hawaii who cannot make a commitment to anyone. The first five minutes is spent showing all of the ladies’ Henry has dated, and never called again, that was mildly amusing. Then while visiting a Hawaiian diner, Harry meets Lucy (Drew Barrymore) and sparks seem to fly! But soon Henry finds out that Lucy has brain damage from a accident, when she wakes up each morning her memory is wiped clean, and she remembers nothing from the last day’s activities. After Henry learns this the rest of the movie centers on how their relationship goes.
Actors and Acting Other notable characters are of course Rob Schneider as Ulu, a friend of Henry’s and Sean Astin as Lucy’s brother. Other actors that appear are Lusia Strus as Alexa and Dan Aykroyd also makes an appearance. The acting overall is not terrible, Sandler puts in another subdued performance (like he did in Anger Management) and Drew Barrymore acts like well, Drew Barrymore. I did not care for Rob Schneider though, his played Ulu over the top, which is not always a bad thing, but he just was not funny. I also did not care too much for Lusia Strus as Alexa, she was supposed to be comic relief but ended up as annoying. I did like Sean Astin as Lucy’s brother though.
~~Story and Plot
Here is where 50 First Dates flounders. The comedy is low brow and almost all based on lame sexual innuendos. It appears that the writers thought that all a movie audience needs for a good laugh is a dirty word here and there, I found the comedy limp myself. Sandler especially disappoints, his humor is based on frenetic anger and putdowns, that is his strength, but you see little of it here. This movie also tended to alternate between sappy romance and comedy, For example Henry invents various sappy ways to meet Lucy, but then in one of those ways Lucy ends up beating Ulu with a baseball bat, which seems out of place for a romantic comedy. The ending is a sap-o-rama, and makes no sense, The whole movie seems uneven. Overall I found this movie boring, so much so that I walked out with 15 minutes left. my two companions (both female) liked the ending but disliked the film as well. There are far better ways to spend your time and money.