50 First Dates - *
Now Playing: (2004, Peter Segal) [seen in theatre]
I'm getting a little tired of slogging through lame (repeat: LAME) movies like this and constantly thinking of what could've been done to make it better- why should I do the work the filmmakers didn't bother to do?- but when a movie's pretty much useless it offers precious little else. Setting aside the fact that this movie isn't cute or funny or charming, I had some problems with the conception of the thing. In particular, its conception of Sandler as a swinging, ladykilling bachelor- what the guy doesn't seem to realize here (and yes, I blame Sandler for this since his company produced) is that he's the dorky kid on the cusp of puberty who gets tongue-tied around girls. So when the film tells us that he dates tourist after tourist it just doesn't ring true, since he's still doing his man-child thing up there on screen. Naturally, this gets the film off to a start that's something less than roaring. Add to this that in the first ten minutes we also meet not one but two grotesque supporting characters (Rob Schneider's bumbling Hawaiian and an omnisexual walrus wrangler) and then are subjected to a scene of animal projectile vomiting, and I knew I was in for a looooooooong slog. Thought the film might perk up a little with the central gimmick- Sandler falls in love with a girl (Drew Barrymore) who has short-term memory loss, so he has to make her fall in love with him every day- but this ends up falling flat too. The potentially clever premise (if you think MEMENTO meets GROUNDHOG DAY, you wouldn't be the first to do so) is hamstrung by the filmmakers' complete lack of curiosity about such a condition. To be in this situation (whether as the afflicted or as someone who cares for her) has to be difficult, but the film shies away from any such harsh realities in favor of Sandler's daily wooing rituals, which are almost as un-cute as they are un-funny. Because Sandler is obviously in lust with her, for him it's just a matter of finding a daily entry point into her life. What about her father and brother (bro is played by Sean Astin, who provides the film's only source of chuckles and is clearly enjoying playing a non-hobbit character again), who no doubt have to give her a great deal of tough love and to live with the knowledge that any progress she makes that day will be lost? I know, it's not supposed to be that kind of movie. We're supposed to want our hero and the forgetful object of his affection to wind up together in the end and not to focus on her inevitable everyday thoughts like "where am I? Who is he?" Would I have ignored these problems had the film been more entertaining? Maybe not, But I probably wouldn't have minded them so much.