50 First Dates (2004) * * *

Directed by:  Peter Segal

Starring:  Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Blake Clark, Sean Astin, Rob Schneider, Dan Aykroyd

Henry Roth (Sandler) is a victim of the cruelest kind of karma.    He is a veterinarian at a Hawaii Sea World who makes a habit of bedding female tourists and then never contacting them again.    The one-night stands are good enough for him.    But then one day in a local diner, he meets Lucy (Barrymore) and he really likes her.    Enough even to go back and see her a few more times.    But, as fate would have it, Lucy was involved in a car accident recently which affected her short term memory in a unique way:   Her brain erases any memory of what happened that day and the next day she awakes with a clean slate.    The only things she remembers are what happened up to the accident, but nothing else.    Her loving father and brother go to enormous, exhausting lengths not to traumatize Lucy with the truth and tell Henry to get out of her life because such a relationship is fruitless.   In a way, any time he spends with Lucy would be the equivalent of a one-night stand.  

50 First Dates came at a time when word of an Adam Sandler movie would more often than not cause groans from this reviewer.    Sandler has talent, and in the right circumstances he can be quite effective, but he tended to gravitate towards movies which appealed to the lowest common denominator.    But, like The Wedding Singer, Sandler teams with Drew Barrymore and they make a nice, easily likable couple, even with the minor hitch of her forgetting him when she wakes up the next morning.   

You would think 50 First Dates would hang lame gags on to this premise, but it surprises with its intelligent handling of the problem at hand.    It isn't just concept.    Henry deeply cares for Lucy, so much so that he is willing to work around Lucy's issues, which would severely hamper any budding romance.    He finds a way, using videotapes, to remind Lucy of who he is and that yesterday was a great day.    Lucy's family becomes convinced of his love for her, because if he is willing to undertake this much extra effort, he has to be the real deal.

Sandler doesn't spend any time yelling at anyone or behaving with hostility towards others.   It's refreshing to see him tackle a romantic lead, and equally refreshing to see a movie actually attempt to deal with its central problem rather than just lamely try and squeeze laughs from it.    50 First Dates does have its moments of gross out humor involving a nauseated walrus, but this movie made me wish Sandler would choose scripts which stretched him more often.