50 First Dates - 02/17/04

Written by: George Wing

Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin

Official Site

There are three actors right now that I am getting sick of. Three whose work I normally enjoy, but over the past two or three years, we've been inundated with their acting.

Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler. I can't count on one hand how many films Stiller has coming out in the near future. Wilson has been in so much these past two years, I almost feel sorry for him. Sandler... well, he hasn't been in that much, but I think what's getting on my nerves more is that his acting is getting worse.

Don't get me wrong, I dig these guys, but I think they're flooding the market with their image, and could use the break. Both them and audiences.

I've been a big fan of Sandler's. I didn't like him when he was on SNL that much. He had good characters, for sure, but back then, the early 90's, those were the dark ages of SNL. Terrible writing, and using characters to take the place of original sketches that might have been funnier had they spent the time to write them... ugh. I mean it, I couldn't watch SNL for about three or four years there, without cringing. Not until Kattan, Ferrell, Molly Shannon and Cheri OTeri came on the scene. Oh, and Norm MacDonald, by far the best weekend updater ever.

But, enough about SNL. Jeez, I get on these trains of thought... ok. So, when Sandler embarked on making features, I thought it was a great move. I thought he'd exhausted his stay on SNL and it was time for him to do two things. One, new material. Two, stretch his legs as an actor.

Granted, Billy Madison wasn't much of a stretch for him, and neither was Happy Gilmore... but they were different than his SNL work, and those are my two favorite films of his. I take that back. Punch-Drunk Love is my favorite film of his, but in the comedy genre those two are his best.

I try watching his other films. Little Nicky, Big Daddy, The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer, Mr. Deeds... good god. I don't think it was until Mr. Deeds that I started getting annoyed with his work. His character in that film is almost a tired Sandler. Sick of playing that same guy. And it goes to show that that film was directly after his first serious role in Punch-Drunk Love. Then he went on to make Eight Crazy Nights, Anger Management... I think what happened was he prefers guaranteed hits instead of taking chances.

He has two films for 2004. This one and Spanglish by James L. Brooks. In 2005 he has The Longest Yard (the re-make) and Click. Two movies a year is too much for a high profile actor like Sandler. Since he plays the same character in every film, I don't understand how audiences can still 'be in love with' him. But, they are. 50 First Dates did well its opening weekend, so maybe it's just me.

One thing I will say about Sandler, he remembers his friends. Over the last four years he has been an executive producer for six films starring ex-SNL actors that he shared the stage with. Rob Schneider, David Spade and Dana Carvey. And they've all made money. His first time out as EP was Deuce Bigalow, grossed over $65 million, with a budget of $18 million. He would finance two other Schneider films, The Animal and The Hot Chick. He's also financing the sequel to Bigalow for next year. He's also EP of Spade's untitled Christmas Comedy for 2004. I guess he knows what sells, and good for him. I have to hand it to him for sticking with his friends. In the position he's in, it's not only the cool thing to do, but it gives him an incredible amount of integrity as an actor/producer/person.

I've never been an enormous fan of Drew Barrymore... wait, wait, wait.

You're probably wondering 'What the hell did you go to this movie for, if you don't enjoy Sandler's acting anymore, and you don't dig Barrymore?' Am I right? Well, it was a post-Valentine's day movie, ok? So there.

Ok, so I'm not a huge fan, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the work she did in this film. Sure, the character wasn't much of a stretch... she was just playing herself. But it was convincing and played off of Sandler's bland (most of the time) delivery well. So, the two balanced themselves out.

She was a great child star. E.T., Firestarter, Irreconcilable Differences and Cat's Eye. She did some strange films in the middle. Poison Ivy, Waxwork II, Doppleganger, Bad Girls... and then started to take on some more serious roles. Boys on the Side, Scream, The Wedding Singer, Ever After, Home Fries, Never Been Kissed. It wasn't until Charlie's Angels, though, that she really took off. She certianly had a career, don't get me wrong, but she really came into her own with that film. Mind you, the sequel failed miserably. But, Donnie Darko followed the first film, along with Riding in Cars with Boys and my personal favorite film of hers, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. She was also in Duplex, with Stiller... a film that just shouldn't have been made, and showed as much at the box office. Just another reason why Stiller should take some time off.

Schneider played the same role he usually plays in Sandler comedies, so it was both not a stretch and nothing to write home about. I prefer him in his own movies, not in supporting roles. I loved him in The Hot Chick... I thought he did a great job there. So, let's hope the sequel to Bigalow is as enjoyable as the first part.

Sean Astin, fresh off of the Lord of the Rings films... he was pretty funny. He got a lisp down perfect. I thought his character was written pretty weakly, but his on screen presence was what I found funny.

Originally titled 50 First Kisses, this is writer George Wing's first produced script. And, since I'm writing this review for a screenwriters web site, it should be the kind of thing that all of us aspire to. Being picked up by two of Hollywood's hottest actors and turned into a huge moneymaker his first time out. Wing will be able to write whatever he wants next, and get it produced... whether it's for him to direct or not. That being said, this script really isn't much of a stretch for any writer.

I say this because the formula has been given to us in a number of films over the past few years. Memento helped give the idea of short term memory a flood of scripts into Hollywood, with different takes. Carvey did it a few years ago with Clean Slate. The film also has a large amount elements of Groundhog Day in it.

One of the biggest problems in the film is character development. We hardly get any with Sandler's character, save his problems with committment. We can see, kind of, why he would fall for someone like Barrymore's character, where the idea of dating someone who won't remember him the next day poses a greater challenge than the women he's used to... but that's not really infered. It's kind of hinted at, that's it. Barrymore's character... well, we get to understand her situation and how she's lived pre-Sandler... but that's it. Since we see her reliving the same day over and over, we never get to see a different side of her. There is one situation where we see how she would react to the same situation, differently... that was done well... but that's where it ends.

The audience is supposed to grant a little too much suspension of disbelief to accept the plot of the film. Ok, so most people are going for a mindless romance, why am I being so hard on the script? Well, because even though the basic plot is what might be called 'high concept', the story is pretty bland and unoriginal. You can see where Sandler and Co. were on the set and ad-libbed lines and situations. If the script were tighter, then we wouldn't have gotten a recycled Sandler film. The actors would have felt more comfortable sticking to the script, rather than taking lines into their own hands.

Now, granted, I haven't read the script so I am being a little presumptuous... but if you watch the film I'm positive you'll be able to tell which are lines from the script and which are ad-libbed lines and scenes.

Peter Segal directed Sandler's last film, Anger Management. I suppose the two worked well together and decided on a new project rather quickly after Management. Segal also directed SNL guys Spade and Chris Farley in Tommy Boy. He went on to work with Dan Aykroyd (who has a cameo in this film) in My Fellow Americans and the sequel to The Nutty Professor. Well, with Sandler and Co. in this film, this is the kind of movie that directs itself. I haven't seen anything of Segal's work except Tommy Boy, which I enjoyed, so I can't knock the guy because I don't know his other work. I mean, style wise. He shoots a decent movie. He's obviously respected by the cast and crew... two key ingredients.

I should be honest, though, that comedies are hard to direct when it comes to personal style. The comedy comes first, naturally... so I suppose when it comes to films that direct themselves, and you have an all star cast, you just do what comes naturally. Point and shoot. I just find it a shame that directors who get these jobs continue to get high profile gigs, when it wasn't their work that people were going to see. Sandler and Barrymore are the draws here, just as Nicholson and Sandler were the draws in Management and Eddie Murphy and his twelve roles were the draw for The Klumps.

Segal is competent, let me just leave it at that. I don't want to take anything away from his success, I just want the success defined.

Worth a rental. Manhattan movie prices just went up a quarter. $10.25 a person. I'm going to have to start getting choosier, and not let the guilt of Valentine's Day (actually, today is President's Day... a big kiss to Lincoln!) get to choose the fare.