Maybe 50 First Dates would have seemed funnier if all the big laughs hadn't been shown in advance in the ads.
Maybe 50 First Dates would have seemed better made if the cute factor hadn't included the antics of a walrus and a trained penguin.
Maybe 50 First Dates would have been more appealing if Rob Schneider had something to do besides look silly, dress funny and bark at a group of child athletes.
Maybe 50 First Dates would have worked better if the laughs weren't built around brain damage. If there had been laughs.
Maybe the best description of 50 First Dates is the one we heard from a reporter in New York: "It's not hideous."
Indeed, 50 First Dates is not hideous. It's not horrible. It's not very good, either, but it won't make you want to go out and hurt someone from how bad it is, because it's not that bad.
It's more like ... it's nothing. You know. Not a movie there at all, really. You can see that there might have been a movie in there at some point, but who knows.
Adam Sandler plays a marine biologist living in Hawaii. He's a big womanizer. He'll never settle down. Women eat out of his hand, etc.
He meets a beautiful girl named Lucy (Drew Barrymore) and here's the thing -- she has no short-term memory. She has had a bad car accident, and ever after can remember things only for one day. She sleeps, and all is forgotten. Her loving father and brother (Sean Astin) help create for her the exact same day, day after day, as that makes her life more simple. Or something.
Anyway, our hero lothario realizes he loves Lucy and must win her heart each and every day, because she can never remember even having met him. For her, every kiss is a first kiss, and so on. It's like a reverse Groundhog Day.
And so, Adam Sandler goes about winning her heart. In between, he makes cute jokes. The penguin and the walrus are cute. Rob Schneider dresses up in something stupid and says inane but cute things. Sean Astin has no real character, so he says everything with a cute lisp. There are a lot of jokes about gender confusion and penis size, but not for any reason we could work out.
Dan Aykroyd has a cameo. All the actors seem to be having a swell time. It's just like they're all at the same party, to which you have not been invited.
Still, fans of Adam Sandler will probably really like the film.
All others should consider themselves warned.
(This film is rated PG)
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