Imagine living the same day over and over again. Imagine not knowing you were doing this and that your friends and family were setting up your day to be exactly the same for you every day.

Now imagine something goes wrong and you realise that today isn’t the day you thought it was but it was actually a year later.

Scary huh? You’d probably be right to assume that this was one of those freaky thriller horror movies where the horror is all in the mind and it eventually leads to madness and/or sadness. However you’d be wrong. This is a review of a romantic comedy.

50 first dates is collaboration between the delectable Drew Barrymore and the Sweet silly Adam Sandler. Did you watch the wedding singer? They had wonderful chemistry going there and I was hoping to see the same thing in this new offering. You see I myself am rather partial to a bit of Adam Sandler. There is something about his voice and his eyes and the way he says “I love you” that just makes this English lady swoon. My husband (bless his cotton socks) has loved Drew Barrymore since he was 6 and he first saw ET. In fact he told his mother she was the girl he was going to marry. Isn’t that sweet? Anyway now he loves and lusts after Drew Barrymore like no other. Therefore you can see this movie match is heaven for us two Drew and Adam fanciers.

Ok so here is the mundane stuff for all you film buffs out there:

Running time: 99 minutes

Showing in cinemas? : Yes! Still showing in many UK cinemas (16th May 2004)

Rating: 12A

What this rating means: Children under 12 can see this film if accompanied by an adult. Considering the sexual undertones of this film I wouldn’t recommend it for children much younger than 12 myself.

Director: Peter Segal is in charge of this here snippet of romantic tom foolery and if you go on his last offering (Anger Management) you might be less than eager to see his latest offering. I say don’t let this put you off! This film is well filmed and directed and you’d be a fool to miss it. A fool I say! Anyway on with the really important bit: Storyline.

Cameo Apperances :

Peter Dante as a security guard: He crops up in all Sandler’s films! He was one of the rock fans in little Nicky

Allan Covert as 10 second Tom: Another Sandler movie regular, He was Rodger in Never been kissed.

Dan Akroyd As Doctor Keats:Lets face it this guy has starred in more films than I’ve written smutty stories. One I remember him in is Ghostbusters!

On with the show!

Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a playboy. He seduces beautiful female tourists, tells them a pack of lies, beds them then makes up an excuse as to why he cannot continue to see them once they leave the island. He even goes so far as to pretend he’s a secret agent and when he gets the girls name wrong he says “I’ve changed it for your own protection!”

Girls, if you hear this line please beware; it is probably my husband trying to be a playboy! Please pat him on the head and send him back to me his adoring wife, thank you!

Anyhow Henry is a vet and he works in some kind of aquatic centre and his dream is to take his boat to Bristol Bay to research walruses (apparently they are mysterious creatures and the have the world’s second largest penis!) However Roth’s boat gives up the ghost mid test voyage and Henry ends up in the Houkilau café on the next island. Whilst waiting for his breakfast he spies a beautiful young lady busying herself making a tee pee out of waffles. He goes the next day and talks to her. Lucy (Drew Barrymore) and Henry really hit it off and arrange to meet for breakfast the next day.

It isn’t all that simple though as When Henry turns up Lucy does not remember him! The kindly lady who owns the café explains to him that Lucy was in a car accident a year ago and in it she lost all her short term memory. So everyday she wakes up thinking it is the day of the crash. Her father’s birthday. Her family and friends weave a cunning deception so she doesn’t think anything is wrong. They give her a fake newspaper, watch the same football game on TV and eat the celebration pineapple they pick on her fathers birthday every day. They even go so far as to whitewash the garage walls so Lucy can paint a picture for her Dad’s birthday every day and fill her shampoo bottle again so it never runs out.

It doesn’t look good for Roth does it? Or does it? As his fried Ula says she is the perfect girl for him! They can flirt and have fun and the next day start all over again.
Henry then sets about making Lucy fall in love with him every single day by way of several weird and wonderful stunts, many off which lead to him striking out with Lucy!

The real fulcrum of this movie comes on the day Lucy has a bad day, when she finds out about the accident and her brain damage and is completely overwhelmed by the information.

50 first dates is funny. Nope scratch that it is hilarious! I will admit some of the humour is a bit childish and silly but hey we all need to be a bit silly now and then don’t we? A lot of the humour is aimed at Ula who is played by
Rob Schneider who you will recognise if you’ve seen any of Sandler’s other movies. Ula is the character you will either love or love to hate. He’s a seemingly crazy local fella who has a thing about sharks being like dogs and hence finds himself bitten by them on several occasions. Ula is daft. The humour involving Ula is slapstick and often a little course but it is worth a good un-self conscious giggle! Let the school boy/girl inside you free for a bit and enjoy the moment! But this film isn’t all about being funny although that is a part of it.

This film is a romance. It is about a guy who loves someone so much that every single day he sets out to make her fall in love with him over and over again. It is bittersweet. He gets to spend a whole day in her company and to share many first kisses but their relationship is constantly stuck on that first date as Lucy cannot remember anything about him when she wakes from sleeping.

Your heart will break (at least if your as soppy as my husband and I it will) when Lucy does something drastic, setting Henry off on his trip to the Atlantic. You will cry at the ending if you’ve known love that is so deep. If you’ve found your soul mate and you’re happily in love this film cannot do anything other than touch your heart. However if you are jaded and callous to love and the idea of soul mates you will probably think this film is a puke worthy pile of tosh; which is a shame as everyone needs a bit of romance in their life. A bit of naïve belief and child like wonder makes the world a more beautiful place to look at.

If you love Drew Barry more, Adam Sandler or romantic comedies you will adore this film. If however you fall into my previously indicated callous and jaded group then you will probably loathe it.

It is a romantic comedy, it follows the line of many romantic comedies that came before it and it isn’t vastly original in its concept BUT it does put a twist on the usual Rom Com stuff and its floaty lightness really makes you think about the plight of people who suffer brain damage of this sort.

Another plus is that it is filmed well. There are some beautifully choreographed scenes and everything flows incredibly well. The soundtrack suits the movie perfectly and flows along not intruding on the story yet enhancing it in many ways.

My verdict on this film? Well that’s pretty obvious really. I loved it. Why? Because it is a beautiful story of how love really does find a way. Because it is a wonderfully funny film (because people being hit in the head, having wet dreams and only having a 10 second memory is funny!) But also because this shows you that everything has its positive side. Lucy leads what seems like a nightmare existence at first glance but she lives with it, accepts it and finds peace. There is a message in this for us all. There is hope. There is Love. There is a future.