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Imdb Rating: 6.8
Genre: Comedy
Directed: George Wing (written by)
Country: USA
Year: 2004
Duration: 99 min

Media: Hot stuff

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Actors: Adam Sandler (as Henry Roth), Drew Barrymore (as Lucy Whitmore), Rob Schneider (as Ula), Sean Astin (as Doug Whitmore), Lusia Strus (as Alexa), Dan Aykroyd (as Dr. Keats), Amy Hill (as Sue), Allen Covert (as Ten Second Tom), Blake Clark (as Marlin Whitmore), Maya Rudolph (as Stacy), Pomaika'i Brown (as Nick (as Nephi Pomaikai Brown)), Joe Nakashima (as Old Hawaiian Man), Peter Dante (as Security Guard), Dom Magwili (as Security Guard), Jonathan Loughran (as Jennifer)

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Description: "Imagine having to win over the girl of your dreams... every friggin' day."

Henry Roth is a man afraid of commitment up until he meets the beautiful Lucy. They hit it off and Henry think he's finally found the girl of his dreams, until he discovers she has short-term memory loss and forgets him the very next day.

Comment: This is quite simply a very enjoyable film. It's not, perhaps, a great film, but it is fun and it left me feeling pleasantly content. Basically this is a romantic comedy about a man (Henry) and a woman (Lucy) who meet and fall in love, there is just one problem: Lucy won't remember, tomorrow.

It is easy to pick holes in films and yes there are things wrong with this film:-

- The first 5 to 10 minutes do seem a little out of place: I understand the need to set the scene, but couldn't help feeling that the pace and characterisations didn't quite fit with what was to come.

- Some of the characters take away from the story: Doug (Sean Astin) is a little over done and comes across as more damaged than his sister. Perhaps the worst, though, is Henry's female (?) assistant: this character was a mistake and did not belong in the film.

In the end, these flaws don't matter: the film is enjoyable and that is what counts.

The plot, even if somewhat contrived, is clever and in the context of the film believable: there is a good beginning, middle and surprisingly satisfying end. Some of the difficult aspects of the film are not ignored but properly dealt with. Clearly it is easy to read a sordid side into the idea of a man meeting a beautiful woman each day in the knowledge that she will forget everything and they can start again tomorrow. This is covered and Henry is asked some pointed questions; without giving anything away, his answers worked and leave us, the audience, able to enjoy the film, without any unpleasant nagging doubts or feelings of guilt.

Don't analyse or pick holes; just watch this film. Chances are very good that you will enjoy it. It is a fantasy a bit of escapism: a first rate piece of entertainment and hopefully it will leave you, as it did me, feeling pleasantly content.

IMDB TRIVIA FOR 50 FIRST DATES (2004):
- In an early scene, Rob Schneider attempts a golf drive by running up to the tee before swinging. Adam Sandler says, "That's the stupidest looking swing I've ever seen." This is a joke on Sandler's character's trademark golf swing in Happy Gilmore (1996)
- Lucy is treated at the "Callahan Institute", which Dr. Keats (Dan Aykroyd) tells Lucy's family is funded by an automotive magnate, T.B. Callahan, out of Sandusky, Ohio. In Tommy Boy (1995), Chris Farley plays Thomas Callahan III, who runs an auto parts factory in Sandusky that's being threatened with foreclosure by Dan Aykroyd's character. Tommy Boy (1995) was also directed by Peter Segal.
- The original script set the movie in Seattle, the hometown of scriptwriter George Wing.
- Rob Schneider's character Ula was inspired by Siope Samuela Ula Lomu, a Tongan concierge at a luxury rental property at which Schneider, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore are regular visitors. Lomu has the same blinded, greyed-over left eye that Schneider's Ula has, but there's not much resemblance beyond that. Says Lomu, "They aren't like some other top Hollywood people. They're really normal."
- "Jocko" was played by Sivuqaq, one of four walruses living at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, CA. The three female walruses featured in the film are named Siku, Uquq and Qiluk.
- When Henry and Lucy are first at his place they see two dolphins that Henry calls Mary-Kate and Ashley after the Olsen twins.
- The book Lucy reads at breakfast, "Still Life With Woodpecker - A Sort Of A Love Story" by Tom Robbins, is a love story set in Hawaii.
- The neurological condition that Lucy suffers from, Goldfield Syndrome, is entirely fictional. True anterograde amnesia affects either short-term memory, which can last minutes or seconds, or intermediate-term memory, which can last days or weeks. Falling asleep has nothing to do with the condition, and sleep actually intensifies many chemical effects which help memory.
- In an early scene a dentist and a woman in the dentist's chair are seen talking with each other. The woman playing the dentist is 'Jackie Titone' , Adam Sandler's wife. And the woman in the chair is played by Linda Segal, director Peter Segal's wife, who actually is a dentist in real life.
- Originally entitled "50 First Kisses".
- Henry makes a video for Lucy to remind her of the events that have occurred since her accident. One of the items is "Red Sox win the World Series..." followed by "...Just Kidding". During the year of the film's release, the Red Sox actually broke an 86-year drought and won the World Series.
- This movie reveals the ending of The Sixth Sense (1999)
- Actor/Producer Anthony Begonia was set to play a cameo as an ukulele player but was unavailable.
- In the first scene where Henry walks into the Hukilau Cafe', Nick can be seen wearing a gray greasy tank top with the "W Y" logo of the Weyland-Yutani company from the Alien movies.
- The Cafe that they keep meeting at is actually a house they fixed up for the movie. It is located on a macademia nut farm on the eastern side of Oahu. The same house was used in Tears of the Sun. And they also filmed scenes from Jurassic Park in the open fields nearby.

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