Low Humor, Violence, and... Romance?
Sandler Does It All Again

The many films of Adam Sandler (and I have not begun to see them all) strike me as a guilty pleasure. They aren't great by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy the mindless silliness of them. But there's a side to Sandler that gets ignored amid the jokes about body parts and hitting people with baseball bats. In his own, goofy way, he's a romantic.

In 50 First Dates, Sandler reunites with his The Wedding Singer co-star Drew Barrymore. The two may not have the banter of Hepburn and Grant in The Philadelphia Story, but their last romantic pairing worked out well. This time around, the story moves beyond the standard romantic triangle and explores some unique (now THERE'S an understatement!) romantic ground.

Sandler plays Henry Roth, a man living in Hawaii who has more than his share of encounters with visitors to the island paradise. He plays on women's desires for island romance and leaves them before they can board the plane back for the States. But when Harry sees lovely Lucy (Barrymore) having breakfast at an out of the way restaurant, he considers breaking his "no locals" rule.

The obstacle in this relationship isn't another man or some other standard Hollywood plot device. No, this time Sandler's outdone himself. Lucy is not like other women because (as the result of a car accident a year ago) she is reliving the same day every day with no memory of what happened before. Her father (Blake Clark) and brother Doug (Sean Astin) do everything they can to make sure Lucy does not uncover her missing life -- and that includes sheltering her from new people.

But Henry is not easily swayed. His repeated attempts to "meet" Lucy every day are unique and funny. Her unpredictable nature makes no two days the same, and Henry's difficulties that much more fun to watch. Of course, fate eventually intervenes and forces Lucy to discover the truth -- one of her "bad days," her father calls it. But the incident brings Henry into her family's inner circle and he convinces them to try something different.

Accompanying Sandler on this mission is "Saturday Night Live" alum Dan Ackroyd as Lucy's doctor and Sandler's pal Rob Schneider as island native Ula. Sadly, Schneider's performance plays off racial stereotypes that seem more offensive that funny. Then again, any movie that uses brain damage as a point of departure for comedy probably isn't concerned with offending others. Case in point, a patient at the institute nicknamed "Ten Second Tom" (Allen Covert) repeatedly introduces himself to people.

The one thing that sets many of Sandler's films apart from others is the music. For some reason, the soundtracks of his movies often feature music from the '80s and (on at least three previous soundtracks) a cut from Sandler himself. Ironically, I wasn't expecting much from this simple romantic comedy. Then I heard the old '80s pop love songs redone by modern artists (and all with a funky island rhythm). Those songs really stand out in the film and and help give it some unique flavor. (I bought the soundtrack solely on the basis of Ziggy Marley's version of The Cars classic "Drive.")

As with Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates has been released on Valentine's Day weekend in the hope of sparking some "date movie" magic. There's no doubt in my mind that this one will appeal to fans of Sandler and the multitudes of couples looking for a silly romance. As a Sandler movie, it's on par. As a romance, a little less so. But overall, I enjoyed it.

MY RATING: 7 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 96 min.