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| 2/13/2004 |
| 50 First Dates: 25 Wedding Singers, 15 Mementos and 10 Groundhog Days |
by Wes Bennett
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Adam Sandler continues to write and star in his own films, that all seem to be fairly similar, though profitable. After the limited, but classic “Happy Gilmore” and “Billy Madison,” he seemed to be evolving with “Big Daddy” and “The Wedding Singer.” This proved short lived. But Sandler recovered from the diasterous “Little Nicky” and “Mr. Deeds” with the artistic and experimental “Punch Drunk Love.” While his latest film, “50 First Dates,” is on par with the likable “Anger Management,” it fails to be as consistent as “The Wedding Singer” and is not a solid step forward in Sandler’s career.
“50 First Dates” seems to have been a more sentimental, romantic comedy with traces of “Memento” and “GroundHog Day.” Adam Sandler and his usual gang of writers transformed a script from Lowell Ganz (“City Slickers” and “Splash) into a film that they thought would please more lowbrow Sandler fans. A lot of jokes and bizarre characters have been added with little success, but the love story with Sandler and Barrymore proves to be much more appealing.
Sandler plays Henry Roth a womanizing, veterinarian who lives in Hawaii. He seems very content to have one night stands with the various tourists who make one week stays at the islands.
One day Henry hits it off with Lucy (Barrymore). But while not horribly disfigured, she has lost her short-term memory from a car accident. Henry must figure out a way to make their relationship work despite her inability to create new memories.
He also must deal with her gruff father (Blake Clark) and her dimwitted, bodybuilding brother (Sean Astin) who spend all of their time recreating the first day after her accident. Complications arise as he must figure out a way to balance what is best for her with a way to advance their relationship.
Sandler's movies always have combined juvenile humor with sentimentality, but the two rarely have seemed so out of synch.
Many characters and gags that are meant to be amusing seem to fail horribly. The scenes before we meet Lucy are an absolute disaster, as are the characters of Lucy’s body building brother, Rob Schneider as a native Hawaiian and Henry's manish assistant, Alexa (Lusia Strus).
The failed comedy is unfortunate because Sandler and Barrymore’s scenes together are unexpectedly romantic, and their relationship is very satisfying. As they showed in “The Wedding Singer,” they acheive chemistry with a lot of smiling and good natured sincerity. Barrymore in particular with her charming smiles and waffle houses, is very appealing. And in all fairness there are some funny parts such as when she beats Schneider with an aluminum bat and Sandler pretends to not know how to read in order to pick her up at a restaurant. But because of the high number of jokes that failed, the film must be held accountable. Go back and watch some of the early Sandler films, I can't think of a joke that failed. They were brilliant. This film is not on the same level, at least in terms of comedy.
While the film's genial nature eventually won me over, the filmmaker’s should have been confident enough not to unnecessarily load the film with bad jokes and quirky characters. The movie entertains, but it is undeniable that it could have been executed with more skill and restraint.
P.S.
It’s a strange ending for a romantic comedy. Because of her condition, Barrymore’s character is doomed to have to accept more and more information everyday. This will only get worse as she gets older. In the film she only has to absorb about a year’s worth of minor details. In the coming years, that will turn into decades, she will have to deal with much more important events such as deaths of family and friends. Not only once, but everyday, and for the rest of her life. Imagine how you felt when you first found out about the death of a friend. Now imagine feeling that everyday. Not to mention, she will never be able to work a real job. The more you think about it, it is kind of a disturbing. |
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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