50 First Dates
Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review
By: Erik Swift
July 2004
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If you could find your true love, could you win them over every single day? That’s the premise of “50 First Dates,” the Columbia Tri-Star comedy now available on DVD. The first re-teaming of Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore since 1998’s “The Wedding Singer,” their work together continues to bring out their best qualities. Helmed by Peter Segal, he directs a script (from first-time screenwriter George Wing) that surely promises great anticipation for the next time the two leads are in the same frame.
Sandler’s marine veterinarian Henry Roth leads a killer life in Hawaii. Hitting on single tourists is the only energy he exudes anywhere else until Barrymore’s Lucy Whitmore saunters into his life. Everything is dreamy when she promises to meet him the next day but she acts like she doesn’t even know Roth 24 hours later. Lucy suffers from short-term memory loss, a condition that her father Marlin (Blake Clark) and brother Doug (Sean Astin) work around by making everything the same for her…every damn day. She remembers nothing after the car accident that caused it more than a year earlier. Roth is faced with the unattainable woman, a test for the island lady killer. How do you convince someone daily that another loves him or her?
The way Sandler and Barrymore interact is a lot better than Ben Affleck and J Lo, and they were going out! The pair shines – observe the way they laugh or how Barrymore giggles with glee or bites her lip. They play off each other so naturally that their scenes are enjoyable for anyone to watch. Marlin gradually warms to the way the potential suitor creates new ways to explain his daughter’s condition – Clark is well cast as the gruff father. Dan Aykroyd has some good lines as Lucy’s doctor, although he looks like he ate 500 dates. All of Sandler’s regulars (Peter Dante, Allen Covert) are here but Rob Schneider’s Ula steals it. The islander stores joints in his crack, gets bitten by sharks while surfing and still manages to corral his out-of-control wisecracking kids. Astin, fresh from the “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, also takes over the spotlight as Lucy’s dim-witted steroid-using brother who makes his pec muscles talk. Between everyone involved, “50 First Dates” almost collectively renders failures like “Little Nicky,” “The Waterboy,” “Bad Girls,” “Pearl Harbor,” and “Boys On The Side” nothing but memories.
Taking a break from Eastwood flicks, Jack N. Green’s cinematography makes me glad I’m going to Hawaii for my honeymoon. 311’s Nick Hexum also organizes a great soundtrack that offers romantic island-style ‘80s covers that rock. Seal wraps his vocal cords around Echo And The Bunnymen’s “Lips Like Sugar” so well that Ian McCullough has to finally be happy with the song from his least favorite Bunnymen album. Ziggy Marley puts out a good version of the Cars’ “Drive,” although Benjamin Orr’s original rendition will never be forgotten. More than an hour of extras, including Schneider’s bare ass on a good blooper reel, are included on the DVD. It’s interesting to note the paint disappearing from Barrymore’s hands between cuts on the 5th (deservedly) deleted scene. Three music videos appear (2 are from 311, and P-Nut’s missing from one) and it’s quite funny to know that the locale for this film was originally Seattle. After “Paycheck” was shot there, no wonder the producers booked for the Pacific.
That first kiss is always remembered. A lucky few, like this film’s Henry and Lucy, get to relive it every day. See “50 First Dates” with another who deserves the same.
Reviewer’s Opinion: RENT IT!!
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