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Henry Roth is a commitment-phobe vet based in Hawaii, who spends his time bedding tourists. But one day he meets local girl Lucy. They hit it off and he can’t wait to see her again. The only problem is that Lucy has no short-term memory and the next time she sees him, she can’t remember having met him before. So Henry has to make her fall in love with him every time they meet.
Just what the world needs, another romantic comedy. There seem to be an awful lot of them coming out of the woodwork this year, what with “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Along Came Polly” amongst others. So what makes this one so special? Well, unfortunately the answer is nothing. Sure it reunites the stars of “The Wedding Singer”, one of the more endearing rom-com products of the past few years, but that means that their chemistry is no real surprise. The characters in themselves are nothing special, the supporting cast is uninspiring as is the plot and there seems to be a lack of oomph. For a film that could have been “Groundhog Day” meets “Memento”, it is less than the sum of its parts.
It doesn’t help that the director of the film is Peter Segal who brought us “Anger Management”, Jack Nicholson’s least watchable outing in years. He doesn’t seem to know what to do with quality actors when he has them and the pace of the film isn’t great. It starts with a montage of women describing the man they met on holiday in Hawaii, then hobbles along for a bit before Drew Barrymore turns up and it really gets going. It isn’t the best script in the world either.
Henry goes from being a love ‘em and leave ‘em love rat to an endearing obsessive in the twinkling of an eye, he has two irritating comedy sidekicks and it’s very difficult to believe that so many gorgeous women could fall for such an average-looking bloke (and his egg-shaped head). Even if he is a vet who’s so dedicated to the animals he cares for. Plus the director doesn’t take advantage of his surroundings. The film may be set in Hawaii, but it may just have easily been set in any other US state for all we see of it. Methinks the director fancied a few months somewhere tropical.
Adam Sandler has had mixed fortunes over the past few years; highs like “The Wedding Singer” lows like “Little Nicky” and this film continues this variable trend. It’s not awful, it just isn’t great. He’s not good-looking or charismatic enough to convince as a lady’s man. His obsession with Lucy is so sudden that it seems creepy at first and he hasn’t got much in the way if decent dialogue to play with. The main problem is that he’s playing the straight man most of the time and it’s a role that doesn’t suit him. As the leading man, he shouldn’t be outshone by penguins and walruses but he is.
Drew Barrymore can play light comedy roles with her eyes shut these days and it seems as though she is here. She doesn’t bring anything new or surprising to the role of amnesiac Lucy, but she is sweet and funny and endearing and this helps to counterbalance Sandler’s lacklustre performance. That being said, there is a touch of unexplained psychosis when she goes after Henry’s best friend with a bat, assuming that he is a mugger, which doesn’t seem to worry Adam Sandler’s character one bit. I suppose I just want to see Drew doing something a little more challenging.
Rob Schneider is one of the most annoying men in the world. He usually turns up in Adam Sandler films as the “comic” relief, but leaves me wanting to find him and beat him with a stick. I think it may be that he’s always playing either a) really annoying characters or b) really annoying characters of specious ethnic origin. Here the role of Ula falls into category b. It’s very hard to like a character who is overly interested in his best friend’s sex life, looks like he has little interest in personal hygiene, has only one eye because it’s supposed to be funny and obviously got his accent from a cheap Christmas cracker. Although to his credit, he is involved in some funny scenes for a change – especially when Lucy beats him with a baseball bat. And I suppose his character is meant to be annoying, so maybe I’ll let him off.
Lusia Strus is Sandler’s other sidekick – the androgynous Alexa, who is yet another bizarre East European stereotype. She doesn’t have much to do except act as a patsy, e.g. when she is covered in walrus vomit. Her character is redundant and makes me wonder if Americans really find this kind of ethnic stereotyping funny.
After playing Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, something tells me that Sean Astin wanted to do something completely different. So he tips up here as Lucy’s steroid abusing meat-headed brother. It’s difficult to know what to make of him. Certainly it’s a break from the norm, but it feels more like a blot on Astin’s copybook than a bold new direction. The character is wafer thin and frankly annoying – I think it’s the combination of string vests and excessive lisping that makes him sound like the lost son of Sylvester the Cat that does it. He’s just one quirky character too many.
Blake Clark does a fine job as Lucy’s protective dad, being one of the only cast members playing it totally straight. It’s a solid, unshowy performance, but it hits all the right notes.
Strangely for a film set in Hawaii, there aren’t many native Hawaiians knocking about. But Amy Hill and Nephi Pomaikai Brown make the best of their meagre roles and are thoroughly likeable as characters.
Dan Aykroyd turns up in a cameo as Lucy’s neurological consultant and deadpans his way through his few minutes of screen time, managing to be funnier than anyone else.
The production design throughout is bright and consistent and Drew Barrymore has plenty of pretty clothes to wear. The soundtrack reflects the bright and breezy backdrop and incorporates the likes of the Beach boys and plenty of pointless covers of old eighties’ tracks, as you might expect from a film starring retro addict Adam Sandler.
There are a couple of massive plot holes that irk me. Why would Lucy’s family and friends pretend it was the same day for over a year? How could they keep it up? Wouldn’t she happen upon the truth anyway? And why doesn’t the comedic style gel with the otherwise sweet story? The writer and director seem determined to go for the lowest common denominator. Did they shoehorn in the walrus vomit and knob gags because they thought they’d keep boyfriends who’d been dragged to see the film happy? I can’t deny that they did make me snigger, but I felt sullied for doing so. Especially when the jokes were at the expense of people with brain injuries.
Overall the film is watchable but not so endearing that I’d rank it in my top ten rom-coms. It’s light and frothy and fun but utterly forgettable. It’s the cinematic equivalent of fun size chocolate bar – it’s nice but not as fulfilling as you’d like it to be, mainly because there isn’t enough to get your teeth into. On the other hand, it’s the ideal film to watch if you want to put your brain in neutral for an hour-and-a-half. Just don’t expect to remember it in the morning.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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I have to disagree with you on many aspects, I loved this film and think it differs from many others, its funny, romantic, sad and some great backing songs one of the best type of these films I've seen in a long time, also this is not just my opinion, the many people I know who have seen it , loved it aswell.
elkay31 24.05.2005 22:34
Im definately going to see this. Great review!!
missixty 24.12.2004 14:59
Detailed review without spoilers. Might wait for this one to come on telly to watch it x
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Apr 24th, 2004
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