50 First Dates
This romantic comedy reunites Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler in the search for more money. Sandler here plays Henry Roth, a vet working at the zoo who's guilty of many one-night stands with tourists visiting Hawaii. Rule #1 is never to fall for a native, which he does when he sees Lucy (Barrymore) having breakfast in a cafe. They hit it off but when they meet the next day, Lucy has no idea who he is. Lucy can't keep any short-term memories after a car accident. Henry can't imagine a life without her and works hard to win her love one day at a time. It used to be that her father and brother kept the truth from her by recreating the day of the accident through an elaborate scheme involving that day's newspaper and a bunch of white paint. Eventually, Lucy finds out the truth in one day and decides to leave them all and stay at a hospital which specializes with people in her condition. Can Henry convince his true love to love back?

There's a certain sweetness when it comes to watching Barrymore and Sandler work on-screen. So while they've got the romance part down, this whole memory concept isn't as smart nor as funny as Bill Murray made it become in Groundhog Day (I know, what can?). Sandler comedies usually have you rolling on the floor laughing but no such scenes exist here. Sure, it's amusing but not haha funny. Without Sandler being his funny self, the supporting cast gets the weight put on to accomplish this, but they drop the ball badly, led by Rob Schneider who is forced to do most of the gross-out comedy with mixed results. Instead, we must look to Barrymore for the sunshine of the film with Sandler taking his cues from her and making us believe they really are falling for each other. 2.5 stars