Thursday, January 13, 2005

Layman movie review: 50 FIRST DATES



Ok, a couple points I need to make, before we get to the meat of the review.

First off, my "roommate" has absolutely no memory of things, particularly when it comes to movies. She routinely puts crappy movies on the Netflix cue and then when they come says "Ewwww, why did you get THIS movie"," when it was in fact her that picked it. She has no recollection of what she has seen, or what she hasn't seen, or wants to see, and she's also a big hater (have I ever mentioned that?) so a movie she was dying to see at the theater six months later she can't comprehend why would would possibly watch that. On the plus side, I can go in to the Netflix cue and delete all these crappy foreign films about androgenous male ballerinas with mother issues and my "roommate" will never know I did. And what I really OUGHT to do is select a whole bunch of softcore movies, like "Cheerleader Pillow Fight 4" and then blame her for renting them. Anyway, to make a long, tedious story short, that is one reason "50 First Dates" ended up in our rental cue.

The other thing you should know is I primarily use Netflix to watch runs of TV shows. I never watched Buffy or Angel when they were on, but damned if they aren't great shows, and I can't wait for the release of Angel Season 5. Also, I've watched Nip/Tuck Season I (fucking AWESOME!) and am waiting for Season II, watched Chapelle's Show and rewatched Homicide. And pretty soon I intend to watch The Wire and Ali G, I just haven't got around to it. So anyway, there are no TV shows on our Netflix cue, which is the other reason "50 First Dates" ended up in there.

That being said, it wasn't anywhere near as miserable as I expected it to be, and it certainly killed a few less million brain cells than that abhorrant Dodgeball piece of crap I suffered through last week. I really wanted to hate it, and the set-up is absolutely ridiculous, but that ended up being actually okay. Also, I winced when I saw Sean Austin, after being in the near-perfect Lord of the Rings movies, I thought that poor bastard had sure taken a career tumble. But he ended up making me laugh, or chuckle anyway, so I guess I won't end up faulting him.

I was really pleased with the ending, too. Drew Barrymore has brain damage, so she keeps reliving the same day, and I was sure that Adam Sandler would tell her he loved her, and the next day she'd have her memory. Or, worse yet, they'd have sex and then she's remember. But it was actually kinda a daring ending--all things considered. Anyway, it wasn't too horrible. Not exactly a glowing recommendation, but if you've read THIS far into a review of an Adam Sandler movie, chances are you don't have a whole lot of better things to do. Do you?

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