50 First Dates

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50 First Dates

Movie poster for 50 First Dates
Directed by Peter Segal
Produced by Jack Giarraputo
Steve Golin
Nancy Juvonen
Written by George Wing
Starring Adam Sandler
Drew Barrymore
Rob Schneider
Sean Astin
Music by Teddy Castellucci
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) February 13, 2004 (U.S. release)
Running time 99 minutes
Language English
Budget $75,000,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

50 First Dates is a 2004 romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and directed by Peter Segal.

Contents

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot

Playboy Henry Roth (Adam Sandler), a marine veterinarian living in Hawaii, meets Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore) at a breakfast shop. They hit it off and Henry eagerly returns to the cafe the next day in order to meet her again; however, Lucy doesn't remember who he is.

It turns out that Lucy was involved in a car accident involving a stray cow and a tree on Sunday, October 13 (her father's birthday), and suffered brain damage resulting in anterograde amnesia, a condition that prevents Lucy's short-term memories from becoming long-term memories. Therefore, every morning she wakes up believing it to still be her father's birthday and is unable to remember anything that has taken place after that day.

Lucy's father (Blake Clark), a retired fisherman/sailor, and her brother (Sean Astin), a would-be bodybuilder with a lisp, do everything they can to keep Lucy from discovering her condition. Since Hawaii's climate is generally stable year-round, there are no changing seasons to clue her in. Her late mother's best friend, the proprietress of the diner where she has breakfast every day, also helps shield her from the truth.

Every night Lucy's father and brother paint their garage walls white, as they were the morning of the accident, so Lucy can paint murals, as she did before. Every day is her father's birthday, complete with party hats, and Lucy's gift is of course always the same: a video of The Sixth Sense she had bought for him before the accident, which the two men dutifully watch with her without betraying any knowledge of the twist at its end.

Henry tries the same flirtation on consecutive days - one day, he tries using a toothpick as a door hinge in a house of waffles that Lucy is constructing, and she responds favourably; but the next day she reacts differently, asking "Are you from some country where it's okay to put your hands all over someone else's food?" Henry realises that he will need to vary his approach every day in order to win her over - on one occasion, he pretends that he can't read the menu, crying in despair until Lucy comes over to comfort him and "teach him some of the words"; of course, she knew all along he was only pretending, but was touched that someone would try so hard to pick her up.

Told off by her father, Henry promises to keep away from the diner, but he figures his promise doesn't apply to meeting her at other places. Every day he tries a new way of meeting her on the road, asking for a jump or pretending that his stoner buddy Ula (Rob Schneider) is beating him up. It is when he poses as a kidnap victim, and is found all tied up in the back of his truck, that he is invited by Lucy's father to visit the house. Lucy is found singing at the top of her lungs, having the time of her life painting in the workshop, and her father reveals that she only sings on the days when she meets Henry.

One day, though, Lucy sees a sheriff writing her a ticket for expired car tags and storms out of the diner to protest. "It's still October, see? Look at this newspaper!" To her consternation and dismay, what she thinks will be her vindication actually reveals the passage of a shocking length of time. She drives home and confronts her father, who is forced to confirm the bad news. Screaming and crying, she is comforted by the three men in her life: her calm, devoted father, who hands her a scrapbook with the news article of the accident (caused by their swerving to avoid hitting a cow) and a grisly picture of her lying in a coma in the hospital; her ditzy but loyal brother; and her new friend, or perhaps boyfriend, Henry.

They visit her neurologist (Dan Aykroyd), who explains her condition: Lucy's condition is not as bad as that of Ten-Second Tom (see also The Man with the 7 Second Memory), a man who has no short-term memory at all. Rather, she gets a whole day. But in the movie's premise, her brain fails to convert the short-term memories of the day into long-term memory when she sleeps.

Henry gets an idea. Instead of shielding Lucy from discovering her amnesia, he makes a short film that gently explains it to her so that she can watch it every day. The next morning she wakes up to find a videotape marked "Good Morning, Lucy." She places it into her VCR and watches it, her all-time favorite song, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," playing in the background. She is (naturally) overwhelmed by the information on the tape, but she is still able to maintain her composure and not run screaming out onto the dock as she did when she found out the first time. The home movie ends with Henry's gentle voice inviting her to come downstairs when she's ready, and her father will answer any questions she has.

The biggest question of the movie is how Sandler and Barrymore's characters can really be a couple. Lucy is smart enough to consider this question herself, and after several days of romance ("There's nothing like a first kiss", spoken by her three successive times on three successive days), she shows up at the aquarium with startling news: she has been keeping a scrapbook ever since Henry made the home movie. Building on Henry's idea of filling her in on the cause of her condition (and a few bits of political news, like the fall of Saddam Hussein and the rise of Arnold Schwarzenegger), she has been writing in her diary every night to provide continuity. She comes to realize that she's been holding Henry back from his life's dream of conducting walrus research off the Alaskan coast, so she breaks up with him and removes him from her scrapbook.

Henry completes the work on his boat, and says goodbye to his friends. But Lucy's father tells him that Lucy has moved back into the hospital, working as an art therapist for the other memory-loss patients, and she is singing once more. As Henry sails away from the island, he opens the present her father gave him to find a Beach Boys album containing Lucy's favorite song. As the CD plays "Wouldn't It Be Nice," Henry bursts into tears, cursing Lucy's father ("What an asshole!") for giving him such a heart-rending souvenir of his impossible romance.

Suddenly Henry has a vivid recollection: Lucy was only happy when (as the Beach Boys sang) they were together:

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up / In the morning when the day is new / And after having spent the day together / Hold each other close the whole night through?

Henry turns the boat around and runs into the hospital calling out Lucy's name. When he meets her in her art therapy classroom, he's hoping she remembers him.

"Lucy Whitmore? Do you have any idea who I am?" "No." "Ah, that...sucks." "What's your name?" "Henry." "Henry, will you come with me? I want to show you something."

Lucy brings Henry to her studio, which is filled with dozens of paintings of Henry. She explains that she dreams about him every night, and yet has no idea who he is. He is literally the man of her dreams.

In the final scene, Lucy wakes up to a revised home movie. This time, the update is that she's gotten married. She looks out the window and realizes that she is on Henry's houseboat and that she is looking at icebergs under a clear Alaskan sky. She goes on deck to meet her husband (Henry) and sees that with him are her father and a little girl. Henry puts his hand on the little girls' shoulder and says, "Go say hi to Mommy." He then introduces Lucy to her daughter, and Lucy picks the child up and holds her tightly. During the final scene the one song that's not on the soundtrack, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, plays. In the credits, it is hinted that their [Henry and Lucy] daughter's name is "Nicole".

[edit] Critical and audience reception

Critical response to the movie was decidedly mixed. Those major critics who enjoyed the film (such as New York Times reviewer A. O. Scott) praised the uplifting story while lamenting the seemingly excessive and incongruous amount of crude humor and drug references. Schneider and the character of Ula drew much ire from critics as distractions from the story (although a favorite scene was invariably the one involving the baseball bat).

Sandler and Barrymore won the award for Best On-Screen Team at the MTV Movie Awards. The two actors, who had previously worked together in the popular film The Wedding Singer, are said to regard 50 First Dates as one of their favorite personal efforts.

[edit] Overtaken by events

One notable coincidence of Henry's first video is when the screen says "Red Sox Win World Series" and then follows with "Just Kidding." This is a reference to the 2003 American League Championship Series, as the film was released in February 2004. Later in that year, however, the Boston Red Sox would indeed win the World Series. Coincidentally, Barrymore's next film would be Fever Pitch, which co-stars Jimmy Fallon as an obsessed Boston Red Sox fan and which takes place during the 2004 baseball season.

The memory-loss hospital is funded by Callahan Auto (out of Sandusky, Ohio), which is the factory that Chris Farley owned in the movie Tommy Boy, and was, ironically, almost bought out by Dan Aykroyd's character (in Tommy Boy).

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Locations

Most of the film was shot on location in Kaneohe, Kaaawa, Wahiawa, Kualoa, Makapu'u, and Waimanalo, O'ahu, as well as in Kaneohe Bay. The walrus tank is actually in Vallejo, California's Six Flags Marine World, and the golf course is in Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack contains cover versions of songs that were originally recorded in the 1980s. This includes mostly reggae or ska covers, due to their emphasized upbeat that gives a tropical or Hawaiian feel. This relates to the previous Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore film, The Wedding Singer, which took place during that time period and thus, its soundtrack was filled with '80s songs by the original artists.

[edit] Album track listing

  1. Wayne Wonder — "Hold Me Now" (Originally recorded by the Thompson Twins)
  2. 311 — "Love Song" (Originally recorded by The Cure)
  3. Seal featuring Mikey Dread — "Lips Like Sugar" (Originally recorded by Echo and the Bunnymen)
  4. Wyclef Jean featuring Eve — "Your Love (L.O.V.E. Reggae Mix)" (Originally recorded by The Outfield)
  5. Ziggy Marley — "Drive" (Originally recorded by The Cars)
  6. will.i.am & Fergie — "True" (Originally recorded by Spandau Ballet)
  7. Elan Atias (backing vocals by Gwen Stefani) — "Slave to Love" (Originally recorded by Bryan Ferry)
  8. UB40 — "Every Breath You Take"(Originally recorded by both Sting and The Police)
  9. Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray — "Ghost in You" (Originally recorded by Psychedelic Furs)
  10. Dryden Mitchell — "Friday, I'm in Love" (Originally recorded by The Cure)
  11. Nicole Kea — "Breakfast in Bed" (Originally recorded by UB40 with Chrissie Hynde)
  12. Jason Mraz — "I Melt With You" (Originally recorded by Modern English)
  13. Adam Sandler — "Forgetful Lucy"

[edit] Songs within the film

  1. The Maile Serenaders — "My Sweet Sweet"
  2. Nicole Kea — "Breakfast in Bed" (Originally recorded by UB40)
  3. The Ventures — "Hawaii Five-O"
  4. Harve Presnell — "They Call the Wind Mariah"
  5. Bob Marley & The Wailers — "Could You Be Loved"
  6. Manfred Mann — "Blinded By The Light"
  7. Toots & the Maytals — "Pressure Drop"
  8. Wayne Wonder — "Hold Me Now" (Originally recorded by the Thompson Twins)
  9. 311 — "Rub A Dub"
  10. O-Shen — "Throw Away The Gun"
  11. Elan Atias (backing vocals by Gwen Stefani) — "Slave To Love" (Originally recorded by Roxy Music)
  12. Leon Redbone & Ringo Starr — "My Little Grass Shack (In Kealakekua Hawaii)"
  13. The Flaming Lips — "Do You Realize"
  14. Paul McCartney — "Another Day"
  15. 311 — "Amber"
  16. No Doubt — "Underneath It All"
  17. Jason Mraz — "I Melt With You" (Originally recorded by Modern English)
  18. The English Beat — "Hands Off She's Mine"
  19. Seal (featuring Mikey Dread) — "Lips Like Sugar" (Originally recorded by Echo and the Bunnymen)
  20. Dryden Mitchell — "Friday, I'm In Love" (Originally recorded by The Cure)
  21. The Beach Boys — "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
  22. Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider — "Ula's Luau Song"
  23. Wyclef Jean (featuring Eve) — "Your Love (L.O.V.E. Reggae Mix)" (Originally recorded by The Outfield)
  24. Wyclef Jean — "Baby"
  25. Adam Sandler — "Forgetful Lucy"
  26. Ziggy Marley — "Drive" (Originally recorded by The Cars)
  27. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole — "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
  28. UB40 — "Every Breath You Take" (Originally recorded by Sting and The Police)
  29. 311 — "Love Song" (Originally recorded by The Cure)
  30. Mark McGrath (of Sugar Ray) — "Ghost In You" (Originally recorded by Psychedelic Furs)
  31. Bob Marley & The Wailers — "Is This Love"
  32. Will.I.Am & Fergie — "True" (Originally recorded by Spandau Ballet)
  33. The Makaha Sons Of Ni'Ihau — "Aloha Ka Manini"
  34. Snoop Dogg — "From Tha Chuuuch To Da Palace"

[edit] External links

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