50 First Dates (2004)
Directed by Peter Segal
Henry is a player skilled at seducing women. But when this veterinarian meets Lucy, a girl with a quirky problem when it comes to total recall, he realizes it's possible to fall in love all over again…and again, and again. That's because the delightful Lucy has no short-term memory, so Henry must woo her day after day until he finally sweeps her off her feet.
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13 films that influenced 50 First Dates
What critics say influenced 50 First Dates
Once again, the union trumps the fragile concept, “borrowed” from 1993’s “Groundhog Day.”
What follows is a blatant rip-off from Groundhog Day as the smitten Roth is forced to woo his love afresh each day, at the same time winning over her suspicious fisherman father and steroid-crazy brother.
Groundhog Day dealt with similar themes and still managed to be hilarious.
The plot -- it's inspired and ridiculous at the same time -- is best described as "Groundhog Day" meets "Memento."
Directed by Peter Segal ("Anger Management") from a script by George Wing, it's a skewed cross between "Memento" and "Groundhog Day." Problem is: Adam Sandler's no Bill Murray.
Essentially Groundhog Day and Memento with the cast of The Wedding Singer, this is a sweet-natured romcom with some good gags and a lovely performance by Drew Barrymore.
The Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore comedy "50 First Dates" is the latest in a recent spate of films ("Memento," "Finding Nemo") dealing with the concept of short-term memory loss--the new amnesia, it seems.
The plot -- it's inspired and ridiculous at the same time -- is best described as "Groundhog Day" meets "Memento."
Directed by Peter Segal ("Anger Management") from a script by George Wing, it's a skewed cross between "Memento" and "Groundhog Day." Problem is: Adam Sandler's no Bill Murray.
Essentially Groundhog Day and Memento with the cast of The Wedding Singer, this is a sweet-natured romcom with some good gags and a lovely performance by Drew Barrymore.
Lucy has the movie version of short-term memory loss -- like Guy Pearce in Memento, she can't retain new memories.
“50 First Dates” answers a question that has been plaguing movie buffs for the last three years… What if Christopher Nolan’s dark and gritty thriller “Memento” was actually a sweet romantic comedy?
Not every 15 minutes like Guy Pearce did, but at the start of every morning like Dana Carvey suffered in Clean Slate some 8 years ago.
(It's a cut above Clean Slate.) Henry Roth (Sandler) is a Hawaiian veterinarian who spends much of his free time seducing female tourists.
A kind of cross between Groundhog Day and Theres Something About Mary (and lets not forget that 1987 Bruce Willis classic, Blind Date) thats set in Hawaii, Peter Segals 50 First Dates moves from the Oedipal preoccupations of his Anger Management to those old T.S. Eliot mind teasers memory and desire.
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Though the film isn't in the same league as the latter (not much is, really), 50 First Dates is notable in that it combines the off-the-wall humor of films like Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison with surprisingly dramatic moments.
As if to jog our own memories with in-jokes, Sandler also references a character�s Happy Gilmore-like golf swing as the most ridiculous he�s ever seen and performs a subdued "hahahaha...shutup" from Billy Madison on a nosey customer.
When Segel decides to give the penguin and the walrus a break, he rolls out the old people who swear and adorable moppets--50 First Dates is an example of how to turn what was probably an ambitious script into a star vehicle, catering to Sandler's fans by referencing Happy Gilmore and catering to Sandler himself by giving Rob Schneider a large role that continues Sandler's disturbing propensity in all of his films to demean every imaginable Asian target (Schneider himself guilty once before as the voice of an Asian waiter in Eight Crazy Nights).
Unfortunately, it often gets derailed by not-so-subtle hints of things we would find in an "Adam Sandler movie," by which I mean Happy Gilmore, Mr. Deeds, The Waterboy, and the other entries in the comedian's traditional ouvre.
For the most part, just as Runaway Bride tried to recapture the wonderful chemistry that existed between Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, 50 First Dates sees Sandler and Drew Barrymore attempt to rekindle the onscreen romantic connection they shared in The Wedding Singer.
For the most part, just as Runaway Bride tried to recapture the wonderful chemistry that existed between Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, 50 First Dates sees Sandler and Drew Barrymore attempt to rekindle the onscreen romantic connection they shared in The Wedding Singer.
Though the film isn't in the same league as the latter (not much is, really), 50 First Dates is notable in that it combines the off-the-wall humor of films like Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison with surprisingly dramatic moments.
As if to jog our own memories with in-jokes, Sandler also references a character�s Happy Gilmore-like golf swing as the most ridiculous he�s ever seen and performs a subdued "hahahaha...shutup" from Billy Madison on a nosey customer.
Some of his earlier works like “Billy Madison” and “Happy Gilmore” were by no means great films but were at least entertaining for the Adam Sandler fan.
His character has no mental deficiency (see The Waterboy or Billy Madison or Little Nicky) and actually seems like a decent guy, even if he does have a habit of having one night stands and creating elaborate ruses to not have to leave his phone number.
In the end, the Sandler fans who rally around Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison will probably be disappointed, but those who bask in the lighter side of The Wedding Singer and Punch-Drunk Love will find a minor treasure.
In the immortal words of a kid from Billy Madison, 50 First Dates is most assuredly “retarded or something.”
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The borderline Sandler character thrown into the mix for some questionable humor is represented this time by Lusia Strus ("Soul Survivors") as Alexa, a Russian of indeterminate sex who assists Henry at the marine world and forms a bond with Doug.
The inspiration draws more from Eight Crazy Nights rather than Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer.
The chemistry between Sandler and Barrymore - who first teamed up for The Wedding Singer - is undeniable, a match that goes a long way towards making the film far more compelling than it should be.
Adam Sandler teams up with Drew Barrymore after their successful pairing in “The Wedding Singer” (1998) to create a typical Sandler comedy that functions in spite of its many misfiring jokes.
Essentially Groundhog Day and Memento with the cast of The Wedding Singer, this is a sweet-natured romcom with some good gags and a lovely performance by Drew Barrymore.
"50 First Dates" is a transparent attempt on the part of Adam Sandler to recreate the success of his 1998 hit "The Wedding Singer" - the film generally regarded as the best of the knockabout comedies that made him once of the most popular screen comedians of our time.