Bring back that loving feeling: Sandler & Barrymore do it again

Anne-Ryan Heatwole / Reviewer

Valentine’s Day weekend is the perfect opening weekend for a romantic comedy like “50 First Dates.”  Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore reunite for the first time since “The Wedding Singer,” and the result is a comedy that’s half Valentine, half vulgar. 

On the surface, the plot of “50 First Dates” is very romantic – Lucy, played by Barrymore, was in a car accident and subsequently lost her ability to form short-term memories due to brain damage.  Henry Roth, played by Sandler, is a veterinarian who falls in love with her after the accident.  However, due to her memory problems, Henry must make Lucy fall in love with him every day, because each time Lucy goes to sleep, she immediately forgets the passage of time and thinks it’s the day of her accident.  Seeing all the different tricks Henry uses to attract Lucy is one of the high points in the film, because he tries pickup tactics ranging from pretending to be illiterate, to faking being robbed, to building miniature houses out of waffles to impress Lucy.  However, after a while, the plot becomes a little strained because it begins to seem unrealistic that anyone would really put in that much effort to make someone fall in love with them every single day, knowing that they would just forget the next day.  However, the ending makes up for this, becoming more serious and emphasizing the romance between the two main characters. 

The weakest point in the movie is Doug, Lucy’s lisping, steroid-using brother played by Sean Astin.  His protectiveness of his sister is touching, but his character seems too two-dimensional for the audience to think of him as anything more than pathetic.  The character is supposed to be sweet and act as comic relief,  but he comes across as creepy rather than funny in most cases. 

Because this is an Adam Sandler film, there is quite a bit of crude humor, with walrus vomit and Doug’s wet dreams being used as frequent fodder for jokes.  Fortunately, these moments just help make the love between Lucy and Henry seem sweeter and more innocent. 

The film makes good use of its beautiful location.  Filmed in Hawaii, many scenes take place on the beach, or in houses surrounded by beautiful plants.  Henry spends much of the movie outside building a boat for himself, so the natural beauty of Hawaii serves as the perfect backdrop to the love story developing between Henry and Lucy. 

In the end, this is a good date movie. It had enough funny and romantic parts to keep both guys and girls interested throughout the entire film.  It’s the perfect way to spend a gray February day, either with friends or a special someone.

Photo courtesy of movies.com

Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler rekindle their “Wedding Singer” chemistry in “50 First Dates,” now playing in theaters.