There's nothing like a little fun and laughter to warm up those cold winter days. The two movies I saw this week certainly deliver that and more.
“50 First Dates” is the latest from Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Production Company. In the long tradition of Sandler movies, this film is witty, zany, funny and ... thought-provoking.
Sandler stars as Hawaii resident Henry Roth, a self-proclaimed womanizer who woos attractive vacationers, then forgets them as soon as they board their planes for home. Henry meets his match when he stumbles into a local diner and sees Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore) and instantly falls in love.
Though his wit and charm, Henry wins the girl and they agree to meet at the diner the following morning for breakfast. Upon arriving, Henry learns that Lucy not only forgot about their date, but forgot that he even existed. She suffers from short-term memory loss as a result of a tragic car accident. Every night while she sleeps, her memory is wiped clean. When she wakes every morning, she thinks its the day of the accident because she can only remember things that happened before it.
Rather than make Lucy live through the accident and its after-effects every day, her father and brother let her go on thinking the accident never happened. On the rare days she finds out — sees a newspaper or watches TV — they tell her the story of the accident and show her pictures, always knowing that she'll have forgotten the next morning.
The system seems to work perfectly until Henry walks into her life and is determined that she won't forget him. He videotapes their romance so she can watch it every morning and get up-to-speed on everything she's forgotten during the night.
“50 First Dates” was sweet and funny — the perfect date movie.
It shows a different side to Sandler. Instead of a beer-guzzling dope, he is a kind-hearted Sea World veterinarian.
It is rated PG-13 “for crude sexual humor and drug references,” so isn't recommended for all viewers.
The other comedy I saw this week was “Welcome to Mooseport.”
It starred Ray Romano (of tv's “Everybody Loves Raymond” fame) as Handy Harrison, the owner of the local hardware store who decides to run for mayor of his small, coastal New England town.
However, the town's newest resident happens to be Monroe “The Eagle” Cole (Gene Hackman), former President of the United States, who retired to Mooseport to get away from his conniving ex-wife and to write his memoirs.
The town council asks Monroe to run for mayor and the race is on — the small-town, hard-working, honest handyman against the rich, powerful, most beloved President of all time and his army of aides and Secret Service agents.
The mayoral race becomes national news as Monroe pulls out all the stops to win the race, purchasing millions of dollars worth of television spots and hiring his Presidential campaign manager. Meanwhile, Handy and his store full of loyal workers sport hand-made signs and buttons.
This film is Ray Romano's big-screen debut and he does an excellent job, though you can't help but look at him and see “Ray” from the TV show.
“Welcome to Mooseport” is rated PG-13 “for some brief sexual comments and nudity,” so is only recommended for mature viewers.
Hitting theaters over the next couple of weeks are “Broken Lizard's Club Dread,” “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,” “Twisted,” “Hidalgo” and “Starsky and Hutch.”
I'll probably head to GKC Varsity Cinema to see Ashley Judd in “Twisted” and Viggo Mortenson in “Hidalgo.” I've seen the trailers for both of these films and they look to be very good. I'll let you know.
On another note: Mel Gibson's “The Passion of the Christ” is now in theaters. I've been waiting to see this film for a while and will write about in the next issue.
