Film

50 First Dates

Name: 50 First Dates
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 2004
Cast: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Lusia Strus

Romantic comedy
Light-hearted

A high-concept Adam Sandler comedy that turns a genuinely sad premise — a woman whose short-term memory resets every night — into something sweet rather than exploitative. It's slapstick and gross-out gags stitched around a surprisingly tender love story, reuniting Sandler and Drew Barrymore's easy chemistry from The Wedding Singer. Good for a lazy Sunday when you want to laugh and maybe well up a little.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like your love stories built on a stubborn, repeating gag, where the sweetness arrives through small daily rituals and the goofy set-pieces land as warmly as the jokes.

Skip it if you want sharp, fast romantic comedy, since this one lingers on its premise and leans on broad, sometimes sappy comic beats that can wear thin.

What it asks of you: Runs about an hour and a half at an easy pace, and you have to accept its premise and keep accepting it, scene after scene.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Wedding Singer1998

The original Sandler-Barrymore pairing, and honestly the better film — funnier, tighter, with the same warmth but less padding. See where the chemistry started.

But Very 80s-nostalgia-dependent jokes that land less if you weren't around for the decade being mocked.

Groundhog Day1993

The daily-reset structure done as pure comic philosophy — a man forced to win the same woman over and over until he becomes someone worth winning.

But No romance-at-first-sight rush; it's slower and more contemplative than a typical date-night comedy.

Blended2014

The third Sandler-Barrymore collaboration, if you want to see the dynamic aged into a family comedy with kids and chaos thrown in.

But Weaker writing than their earlier films — the chemistry is doing most of the heavy lifting here.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from 50 First Dates

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Away from Her2007

Same central ache — loving someone whose memory of you keeps disappearing — played completely straight, with no comic scaffolding to soften it.

Julie Christie plays a woman sliding into Alzheimer's, and her husband must, like Henry, keep falling in love with someone who forgets him — except here there's no cure by third act.

But It is devastating and unhurried, built entirely around loss rather than laughs — the polar opposite mood.

The Notebook2004

Swaps comedy for full melodrama but circles the same idea — loving someone who may not remember loving you back. Bring tissues, not popcorn.

But Unapologetically a weepy; if you came for jokes about walruses, this will feel like a genre transplant.

Just Go with It2011

Another Sandler rom-com built on an elaborate lie sustained for love, with the same broad, family-friendly comic engine and beach-set glow.

But Thinner premise, more predictable beats — comfort food rather than anything that'll surprise you.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.2011

Sharper, more grown-up rom-com ensemble with real wit underneath the charm, for when you want the genre with slightly more bite.

But Multiple intersecting storylines mean less pure screen time for any single couple's chemistry.

Click2006

Same Sandler high-concept trick — a magic device instead of amnesia — used to ask what you'd sacrifice for a shortcut through life.

But Tonal whiplash between broad comedy and sudden gut-punch sincerity that some find jarring rather than moving.

Big Daddy1999

Peak lazy-Sandler-guy-forced-to-grow-up comedy, if the appeal here was really just watching him bumble toward decency.

But Cruder, more dated humor with far less romantic substance than the film you just watched.

While You Were Sleeping1995

A gentler, earlier-90s rom-com about loving someone under false or confused pretenses, with the same big, generous heart.

But Quieter and more old-fashioned — no slapstick, no gross-out, just a soft-spoken city fairy tale.

Random Harvest1942

The exact same engine — memory loss as an obstacle to romantic repetition — built by Hollywood eighty years earlier, minus a single joke.

A classic Hollywood melodrama in which amnesia forces a man to fall in love with the same woman twice, decades before Sandler ever tried it, and just as swooning.

But Black-and-white pacing and old-studio dialogue will feel slow if you're used to modern comic rhythms.

Memento2000

Uses the same neurological quirk that drives Lucy's condition as the engine of a revenge thriller, proving how genre-elastic the premise really is.

Christopher Nolan's breakout thriller runs the identical premise — no short-term memory, relearning your life daily — through neo-noir paranoia instead of romance.

But Fractured, backwards-told structure demands real attention; it's a puzzle box, not a comfort watch.