With '50 First Dates' Sandler forgets he's done this film a hundred times before

by Jared Duncan
A&E editor

All of you couples looking for a romantic movie to watch during February, consider this: the underlying theme of this picture is walrus penis jokes. 50 First Dates, Adam Sandler's latest, ahem, opus, follows the story of Henry Roth(Sandler), a Hawaiian veterinarian who has a love-em-and-leave-em relationship with female tourists. Desperately searching for true love, Henry finds a different kind of companionship with his animal pals, mimicking a dim-witted Dr. Doolittle.

Then, one morning, Henry walks into a local restaurant and finds his dream girl, Lucy (Drew Barrymore) sitting all alone. He finally musters up the courage to talk to her and the two hit it off and have the most adorable conversation where they build houses out of waffles and wax nostalgic about the smell of fish. They agree to meet at the same eatery the next day, and then go their seperate ways,each thinking they have found the romance of a lifetime.

Tomorrow rolls around and Henry makes his way to Lucy's table only to find that she doesn't recognize him, or remember anything about yesterday's waffle-ly sap-fest. The owner of the restaurant informs Henry that over a year ago, Lucy was in a car accident, which caused her memory of each day to be erased while she sleeps, resulting in her waking up to the morning of the crash, everyday, or at lest in her mind. But, knowing true love when he sees it, Henry isn't going to let one of the biggest mental defects in the history of the world hold him back. With the cooperation of Lucy's father (Blake Clark) and steroid gorging brother (Sean Astin, doing a U-turn onto a one way street straight into cinematic abyss), Henry has to convince Lucy that he is the love of her life everyday, all over again, while simultaneously trying too hard to make the audience cry.

Sandler's films garner the same kind of attention every time they are released: fans quiver in anticipation, while critics dread it like a woman's scorn. But, on every single outing, everyone gets what they expect. For example, let us look at the first six minutes. In this small window of time, the film gives us a walrus vomiting all over an androgenous Russian with a thick accent and makes endless sexual remarks. Hy-sterical!

So, right away this movie lets the audience know what they're in for, but those rolling their eyes, they should have known from the moment they saw the trailer.

But, this time around, Sandler lets down both his frat-boy fan-base and instead caters to more of an Alex & Emma crowd, a trend which started with the courtroom scene in Big Daddy. But even the romantic comedy enthusiats, as low as their expectations are, might be a bit turned off, meaning that this movie pours on enough sap to drown an sequoia tree. Not to mention the cute kids, cute animals, and the "awww" inspiring conversations between Barrymore and Sandler. This film does everything but mace the audience to make them cry.

Beyond that factor, 50 First Dates sticks to the old Happy Madison formula. Sandler playing everyday nice guy? Check. Cute movie starlet in the role of a dream girl who also happens to be the romantic interest? Check. Stupid sidekick role that pays Rob Schneider's bills every other year? Check.

There was one blaringly original piece in this film, though. In one scene, to get the attention of Lucy, Henry has his friend Ula (Schneider) pretend to beat him up. Only, when Lucy rescues Henry, she takes it one step too far by beating Ula senseless. This is fantastic. I mean, how could Sandler perform this great gag with such ease? I don't know, maybe because he already did it in Mr. Deeds?!

Well, recycling is to be expected, but what about casting? Sean Astin worked hard to climb out of the hole that Encino Man dug for him by starring in what many (yours truly not included) are considering to be the cinematic treasures of our time, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Here, he discards all that and jumps right back in, leaving movie fans to wonder if he is any smarter than the character he portrays on-screen. The film also suffers from the absence of Mr. Steve Buscemi's magic touch, but it's good to know that he is possibly trying to keep part of his dignity intact.

One piece of the film that I honestly found charming was the final scene, if not for anything other than Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's amazing rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Unfortunately for the audience, it's too little, too late.