50 First Dates review

Something happened to Adam Sandler. Since dropping those aggravating, finger down the blackboard annoying vocals in films like Little Nicky, he's taken to not only using his own voice, but venturing into less frivolous fare (Punch Drunk Love). Although 50 First Dates is nothing more than a charming, lightweight romantic comedy, it shows a far more endearing and less manic Sandler than the one who first emerged in Happy Gilmore. Fans of that absurd schtick need not despair however as the supporting cast provide more than enough dumb humour to sink the Bismark.

It's testimony to Sandler's engaging nature that a film with such a potentially irritating premise could end up being as appealing as it is. A story centered on a character with short-term memory loss, faced with repeating the same day every day, could very rapidly become maddening rather than amusing. Its success is owed in equal measure to Drew Barrymore, with the pair replicating the on screen chemistry they first exhibited in 1998's The Wedding Singer.

Unlike their previous collaboration where both were heading for the altar with alacrity, here both are avoiding any form of commitment, but for very different reasons. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a womanizer with a neat line in patter and a library of personas he adopts to bed the visiting lovelies to Hawaii where he works as a vet in an aquatic theme park. To eliminate the possibility of becoming tied down, he has vowed to never date a local. For Lucy Whitmore, relationships are a little more complicated. Since suffering a head injury in a car crash a year earlier, she has experienced short-term memory loss. Everyday she starts out with a clean slate, unable to recall anything that has happened since the fateful accident.

Her condition is unknown to Henry when he first meets Lucy. By the time he discovers though, it's too late. He's smitten. From then on he's faced with the challenge of winning her over anew everyday. In his pursuit he is at first discouraged by Lucy's protective father (Blake Clark) and her buffoonish brother (Sean Astin), but with the help, and occasional hindrance, of his pot-head friend Ula (Rob Schneider) he gradually gains their support and Lucy's affections.

Given its subject, 50 First Dates obviously draws comparisons with Groundhog Day, but while that film had an underlying darkness, here the mood is much lighter. Some might contest a little too light at times as the sweet nature of the relationship between Henry and Lucy is offset by the fatuous collection of supporting characters that includes a vomiting walrus.