“50 First Dates” is a delightful little movie that I actually recommend, and I never thought I would say that about an Adam Sandler movie. Never, ever, ever. Usually I watch Sandler films in horror, mentally calculating the massive waste of film, popcorn and hours of my life that are being sucked into this cinematic wasteland – and I would be lying if I didn’t say that about 25% of this movie is like that. What saves this film from itself is simply Drew Barrymore. While a lot of the time you may find yourself staring at the screen wondering why some of the people on it are there and why you have to watch them – Drew Barrymore just bubbles with sweetness and life. You really LIKE her in this film. And when Sandler is acting with her you find yourself liking him a little (or disliking him less maybe).

Sandler plays Henry Roth, a veterinarian at a local sea park who specializes in caring for walruses and dreams of taking his boat up north to study them in the wild. In his spare time he seduces female tourists and concocts elaborate life stories to justify dumping them after their vacation ends. One day he finds himself in a seaside diner and there he spies Lucy Whitmore (Barrymore), a high school art teacher, who is making little houses out of her morning waffles – and he falls in love. They meet, bond, and there is an adorable scene when after their initial meeting they both accidentally catch sight of each other doing a little dance of happiness in the parking lot. They make a date to meet for breakfast at the same diner the next day but when Henry shows up Lucy doesn’t know who he is and rejects him. Henry discovers that Lucy is suffering from short-term memory loss following a devastating car accident the year before – although she remembers everything up until the night before the accident she is unable to process anything else – so she wakes up every morning believing that it is her father’s birthday in October 2002 and spending her day accordingly.

Lucy is surrounded by a wide array of people who are attempting to “help” her by letting this illusion continue and protecting her from finding out about the accident and what has become of her life. From the well-meaning cook and proprietor at the local diner to her father and steroid-popping bodybuilder brother (played by “Lord of the Rings” Sean Astin, who looks a lot less hobbit-like here); there is a lovely and sad scene when after a day of pretending with Lucy they whitewash a wall she has painted with flowers that day so she can do it again the next day. Despite Lucy’s problem, Henry decides to pursue a romantic relationship with her, and over and over attempts to recreate the magic ease of their first meeting. The rest of the film proceeds with how he manages to do that – and I don’t want to give away too much of it here, but the movie manages to follow a predictable romantic comedy progression in an unusual way.

There are some typical Sandler moments here that I think we could all live without – the sexually ambiguous vet assistant with weird sexual proclivities, the vomiting walrus, the opening segment in which masses of vacationing women rant about what a marvelous lover Henry Roth (Sandler’s character) is, the one eyed sidekick who believes that sharks aren’t deadly, just misunderstood, etc. This is just more of the usual Sandler stuff which seems to make his target audience of 12 year old boys happy and which makes anyone over that age cringe. That said, the performance of the walrus alone makes up for a lot of that – he dances, bobs, plays and is a delight. He should be in all Adam Sandler films from now on. Still, “50 First Dates” is a better film than it should be and one which I can’t imagine you not enjoying on some level.

~April Roberts

www.sonypictures.com/movies/50firstdates