50 FIRST DATES (2004)
Director: Peter Segal
Stars: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Blake Clark
THIS sweet romantic comedy sees funnyman Adam Sandler playing Henry Roth, a Lothario Hawaiian vet who only dates tourists because he doesn’t want to get tied down.
Everything changes for Henry when he spots a beautiful blonde local named Lucy (Barrymore) at a cafe. The pair flirt and enjoy breakfast together, but when he goes back the next morning, she doesn’t remember him at all. It turns out Lucy was in a terrible car accident and lost her short-term memory. Her brain resets while she sleeps and her dad (Clark) and brother (Astin) go to extraordinary lengths to ensure she believes every day is the day of the crash.
Henry has the opposite problem. Try as he might, he can’t forget Lucy and sets out to make her fall in love with him every 24 hours. In one scene, he plays her a cute song called Forgetful Lucy on the beach. Oddly, while Sandler’s pictured holding a baritone on the movie poster, he actually strums what looks like a six-string tenor in the film. There are plenty of tutorials online if you’d like to give the song a go.
The jokes don’t always hit the mark, but 50 First Dates has plenty of laughs and while the premise might be slightly far-fetched, the solid central performances elevate it. Sandler and Barrymore have amazing chemistry.
This article originally appeared in Issue 12 of KAMUKE Ukulele Magazine, which is available in the Store
