50 First Dates, the review

Staring Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. Directed by Peter Segal.

 

This review was very hard to post because in some ways I hated this film and in others it was a very good movie. We all know that Drew and Adam have been in another film together and the on screen chemistry worked very well in that film. It works once again in "50 First Dates". Lets break this review down to three basic film parts, acting, story and direction.

Since Drew and Adam did so good with The Wedding Singer there was no reason to not pair them together for another movie. Both actors do well with their roles in this film too. Adam seems like he might have actually grown up from his earlier movies. This is probably because his last, 8 Crazy Nights did not do as well as we thought it did. Drew just came off a box office flop too with the second Charlie's Angels, so hmm, I have no idea. The movie seems very mature for a romantic comedy (if that's what you want to call it) and it isn't stupid like Billy Madison or Mr. Deeds. Rob Schneider does a very good job as "Ula" and he practically steals the show. Sean Austin does well in this role, except he does get annoying after awhile. The other people in the story do, eh, okay jobs I guess, nothing special from Dan Aykroyd.  The story, discussed in the next paragraph, works well for both main characters in this film as well. Some may say that the film is all about how pretty the countryside of Hawaii is and I believe this is could be the film's downfall, too much of Hawaii and not much with the story.

SPOILER ALERT BELOW!

The story of this film centers mainly around Drew, who in this film has incurable short term memory loss. This means, every day she wakes up she thinks its the same day it has been for over a year. She goes about everything the same way day after day until she meets Adam. He tries his hardest to win her over for a while, succeeds (as expected) but has to keep reminding Drew of everything that has happened. This makes for a good chick flick but I think it kind of over does the whole brain thing again. I can see how activists or just plain ignorant people might take the "brain" part too seriously and bash the film. Remember its just a movie folks.

Director Peter Segal has experience with comedy. He directed such films as Anger Management (another Sandler flick) and Tommy Boy. He also worked on the third Naked Gun movie. This man knows how to do comedy and the film shows it. He also adds the sentimental part of the film (every film has a formula, this one is no different) where Drew finds out that she was in an accident and that's why she can't remember anything. His work with the other films in his career are just as good as this is. I have no complaints.

Overall I was pleased with this film. It could have been a little funnier but I know that its kind of a sensitive subject and you don't want to over do it like this film may have done. I at first didn't like it all that much but it kind of grows on you. I'm sure a second viewing will produce better results, as well as better turtlehead.

Reviewed - Freddie Farz Jr. 2/27/04