“Stop looking at me, Swan!” “The price is wrong, b****!” “Sonny! I want 20 packets of ketchup!”
Most of you already know where these quotes come from (and if you don’t, drop the paper in your hand and get yourself to Blockbuster already!). These quotes are just a few of the hysterical lines performed by the great Adam Sandler and his recurring entourage of friends.
In his latest film, “50 First Dates,” Sandler is Harry Roth, a veterinarian by day and a playboy by night. One sunny Hawaiian day, while eating at a local diner, Harry meets and falls in love with Lucy (Drew Barrymore), a beautiful girl (okay, so I might be biased because of the Drew factor) with a great sense of humor.
They hit it off, planning to meet the next day. The time comes and Lucy has no recollection whatsoever who Harry is and why he is sticking his fingers in her food. Harry soon learns that his dream woman has lost the ability to remember; her short term memory is lost forever.
Harry now finds himself stuck in the worst cycle ever as he attempts to relive their first date over and over again with hopes that his new found love will actually remember that she loves him back.
Not only is Sandler great, but like always, he carries with him a cast full of talented and funny supporters.
First and foremost: the exquisite Drew Barrymore. If you’ve seen 1998’s “The Wedding Singer” then you already know the kind of chemistry Barrymore and Sandler have. “50 First Dates” recreates this chemistry with ease in a completely different setting using completely different characters, an accomplishment few can achieve. Barrymore shines, plain and simple. Her presence alone is enough to light up the screen.
Rob Schneider is usually hit or miss for me. In “50 First Dates,” his character, Ula, was surprisingly a hit. In scenes that required the more serious side of Sandler (no, not “Punch Drunk” serious), Schneider really took off as the native Hawaiian father of five. Roles like Ula and Nazo in 1999’s “Big Daddy” actually make me think for a moment that Schneider’s career might not be worthless after all. (Can we please forget that “The Animal” and “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” ever existed?)
Along with Schneider comes the rest of Sandler’s gang. Allen Covert, Peter Dante, and Jonathan Loughran return (again!) taking on small, but memorably funny roles. Although these names probably don’t ring a bell, trust me, you know them! They’re the same guys we see in almost every other Sandler comedy and for some reason they never cease to amuse. Arguably the funniest scene in “50” revolves around Covert’s character (just remember “Ten Second Tom”).
The cast list grows as the movie unfolds. Enter Sean Astin playing Doug, Lucy’s brother. Whether you know him as Samwise Gamgee, Rudy, or even little Mikey Walsh, Astin is an actor who has continually blown me away during the course of his career. Seeing him play the lisping Doug almost seems illegal, but one can’t help but sit back and allow Astin to impress. It was great to see Astin out of his element, trying something new.
And oh yeah! And Dan Aykroyd’s in it! Always a pleasure (enough said).
Adam Sandler is a comedic genius. Although “50 First Dates” isn’t the best Sandler movie, (“Happy Gilmore,” “Billy Madison” and “Big Daddy” destroy it in my opinion) it is by far not the worst (“8 Crazy Nights” left me comatose and “Anger Management” was somewhat overrated).
Having a release date of the day before Valentine’s was quite the marketing strategy! Guys – you can take the girl to see a semi-chick flick, but still get a lot of good laughs from it (and I assure you it won’t have Julia Roberts or Kate Hudson in it). Girls – you can rest assured that you’re not twisting his arm to be there. “50 First Dates” works for everyone.
Leave a Reply