David O'Connell50 First Dates
July 18th 2011 04:54
Imagine having to start each morning anew, with everything you experienced the day before swiftly erased upon waking. Suddenly you’re left with only long-entrenched recollections of life – the same life you think is continuing as normal, unaffected by the kind of medical condition Hollywood loves to embellish for the purposes of a good-natured romantic comedy.
In Peter Segal’s 50 First Dates we’re tossed into scenic Hawaii where the kindly natives, hilarious creatures of Sea Life World and perpetual sunlight enriches the lives of a marine veterinarian, Henry Roth (Adam Sandler), and the free-spirited girl, Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore), he stumbles upon in the local café one day. Henry sidles over to make a cute crack about her waffle stacking abilities and after some seriously promising conversation thinks he may have stumbled upon a girl with real potential.
They part with the promise of meeting again the next day but there’s a problem: when tomorrow comes, Lucy has no idea who Henry is. The locals fill the uncomfortable breech with a belated medical update: poor Lucy has no short-term memory, the side effect of a car crash which effectively has her repeating the same day over and over again.
Thanks to the tireless work of her father Marlin (Blake Clark, who I seemingly can only ever picture as the hardware store guy from Home Improvement) and lisping, weirdo brother Doug (Sean Astin), Lucy is lulled into the facsimile of a day perpetuated by fabricated newspaper headlines from the day of her crash. There are plot holes aplenty relating to Lucy’s continued ignorance, of course, but then why turn this into War and Peace?
Naturally the truth escapes like an evil genie from a bottle, crushing Lucy’s formerly irrepressible spirit. Each day Henry must start afresh with attempts to make Lucy fall head-over-heels for him. But is it all worth it? Can there be any future for them at all? And besides, is their strange variation of love quantifiably real or just a hastily constructed fabrication?
Sandler has made a career out of playing simple dolts and this is no 360 degree turnaround by any stretch. He may be passing himself off as a marine vet here but it’s his heart that we’re meant to admire not the functioning of his cerebral cortex. With her movie-of-the-week affliction, Barrymore is suitably sweet and tortured as the refugee from a failed Groundhog Day sequel; she's easy to watch, and the chemistry between the pair at least registers perceptibly as it did in The Wedding Singer (1998). However, that’s not quite the case for the jokes that are supposed to illustrate why their relationship will endure against the odds.
50 First Dates (2004) is enjoyable romantic fodder for the masses. It’s no masterpiece by any stretch. (But then again, just the fact that the words 'Kate' and 'Hudson' don't appear in the credits is sometimes cause for a kneejerk semi-favourable response). In other words those expecting a gargantuan leap out of that stagnating pool known as the birthplace of the modern romantic comedy will be waiting a while. There is however a sweet, gooey centre waiting for those who stick around long enough to prise it open, not to mention a treacherously bad support role for Sandler's buddy-til-doomsday Rob Schneider, playing up to his extraneous, racially dubious worst.
| 46 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Mind you having had the misfortune of having to endure some of Bad Teacher the other night ...
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile