All movies50 First Dates

Rated:

PG-13 ((sexual situations, crude humor, profanity, cartoon violence))

Running time:

1:36 minutes

Release date:

January 1, 2005

Capsule review:

You know what to expect from an Adam Sandler movie: thin plot, a little romance, lots of bathroom jokes, Sandler's brand of physical comedy and Rob Schneider. What ``50 First Dates'' also has is Drew Barrymore. First teamed in 1998's ``The Wedding Singer,'' Sandler and Barrymore have a kind of screen chemistry that is based more on the feeling of mutual like rather than on any sense of sexuality. And this is good, considering the notion of romance in a Sandler film is about as mature as the jokes, which are written for 12-year-old sensibilities. Sandler plays an aquarium veterinarian living in Hawaii who, to avoid commitment, makes it a point to love-and-leave tourists. Then he falls for a ``local,'' Lucy (Barrymore), who suffers from a brain injury that affects her short-term memory. So, irony alert, he finds himself having to court her anew every day. The concept is set up early on, so that the large part of the movie centers on the romance, which balances out the usual ration of sex-, culture-, gender- and gay-themed jokes that Sandler thrives on. At the center, though, is Barrymore, whose career as a comedienne took off with ``Never Been Kissed'' and hasn't yet peaked. Even with a bat in her hands she never loses her femininity, and she keeps the film's meld of romance and comedy on track.