Sandler flick fails to entertain

By SEAN LUDWIG
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
A weekly entertainment review -- anything from books and video games to movies and music.
What: "50 First Dates"
Grade: C
Rated: PG-13 for crude sexual humor and drug references.
Who's in it: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin.
What's it about: Henry Roth (Sandler), a zoo veterinarian, falls for Lucy Whitmore (Barrymore), a girl with short-term memory loss. In a seemingly hopeless attempt to make her remember him and fall in love, Roth tries various exercises to jog Lucy's memory.
What's good: It's a feel-good movie for couples to see on a date. Astin is hilarious as Lucy's buff brother. (How he can go from being Sam in "Lord of the Rings" to this is amazing.) Barrymore and Sandler are just average, but have good chemistry together. (The sparks seem to be held over from "The Wedding Singer.") Fans of Sandler's previous movies will be sure to enjoy it. The cute animals that Sandler plays with steal the show and are the movie's best feature.
Lacks original ideas
What's not so good: Originality is not one of the film's strong points. It borrows from the much better "Memento" and previous Sandler movies for its ideas. The film itself is like a string of Sandler skits tied together by a thin premise. First-time writer George Wing shouldn't be allowed to write again. In addition, most of the movie's humor is worthless. There might not be many language issues, but the "sexual humor" is ridiculously bland and repetitive. The movie drags toward the end because it just gets old.
Bottom line: Forget this painfully average Sandler film ever existed.
XSean Ludwig is a senior at Oak Park High School in Kansas City, Mo.