50 First Dates looks like an interesting, offbeat romantic movie.
Looks can be deceiving.

Not that there's anything mean-spirited about this comedy from the Anger Management team of Adam Sandler and director Peter Segal. It's just that believing the story requires leaping over plot holes larger than Mauna Loa.

Sandler plays Henry Roth, a womanizing veterinarian on the lush Hawaiian island of O'ahu. He regularly goes to the local Houkilau Café for breakfast, where he one day strikes up a tenderhearted flirtation with an attractive woman named Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore). Lucy invites Henry to join her for breakfast the next day, but there's a problem: the next day, she doesn't remember Henry. Lucy was in an auto accident that left her with no short-term memory. Every day, she wakes up having forgotten whatever happened the previous day and believing it's Sunday, October 13—the last day she remembers prior to the accident. (First question: if both Lucy and Henry have been going to this restaurant every day for over a year, why hasn't he noticed her before?)

Lucy's father, Marlin (Blake Clark), and her brother Doug (Sean Astin) painstakingly re-create Sunday, October 13th every single day, ostensibly to protect Lucy from the reality of her condition. When you see the amount of effort that goes into their deception, you wonder why they don't just tell her the truth. And besides, if they're so sick of having the same dinner night after night, or watching The Sixth Sense hundreds of times, why not vary it a little? It's not like Lucy will remember it the next day.

Nearly everyone in town, including the restaurant regulars and servers, is aware of Lucy's situation and plays the game, a la The Truman Show, except without Ed Harris as a tyrannical director.

When Marlin finds out his daughter has a suitor, he forbids Henry from meeting Lucy at the diner. The lateral-thinking vet finds new and innovative ways to get the woman's attention, and eventually Marlin and Doug realize that this guy really loves Lucy. Henry then comes up with an ingenious idea—next question: why wouldn't Marlin and Doug have thought of this?—and finds a way into Lucy's heart, day by day.

The main problem with George Wing's script is that it gives us no insight into why Henry cares about Lucy. The dialogue is often stilted, and the story moves at a jerky pace. The initial premise is set up quickly and well, but then the script loiters around like a romantic Groundhog Day, revisiting the exact same scenario over and over and over again, first in the restaurant, then on the road. By the time Henry's solution comes around—allowing the plot to move forward a bit—the movie is half over. And the infamous "screaming in bed" scene from the trailer doesn't show up till halfway through the third act.

Another volcano-sized plot hole: the video Henry makes, daily, to bring Lucy up to date on her life is sweet. But where would an aquarium vet find that kind of footage, much less a damned good editor to put it all together? And besides, as the months progress, wouldn't just viewing the tape take up most of Lucy's day?

Sandler is at his best when he's not trying to be funny. As an offbeat, self-deprecating man, he's sweet and engaging. For perhaps the first time in his career, he uses his beloved ukulele to sing a genuinely endearing, if goofy, song, and as a gentle man (note the two words there), it's more or less understandable why Lucy would fall in love with him. As they did with The Wedding Singer, Sandler and Barrymore have a fresh, palpable chemistry that transcends the clunkiness of the script.

Dan Aykroyd as Lucy's neurologist is—not quite miscast, exactly, but his pseudo-authoritative discourse on brain injuries brings to mind his opening and closing monologues that book-ended every episode of Psi Factor.

Along for the ride is Henry's best friend, Ula (Rob Schneider), who trains the aquarium animals by feeding them hash brownies. Though the phrase "cultural appropriation" might have come up less had a Hawaiian actor been cast in the role, Schneider is completely in his goofy, over-the-top element. The character is a total stereotype—dope-smoking slob of a husband to an obese woman and their dozen or so kids (five are featured). On the plus side, Schneider's Pidgin English is fairly accurate—had he used a true dialect, the movie would have needed subtitles.

Most of the rest of the Hawaiian characters are played by Hawaiian actors, and the colloquialisms built into everyday life seem authentic. According to Pomaika'i Brown, who plays the good-natured cook, Nick, Spam—which gets at least two dozen opportunities for product placement—is a true cultural phenomenon on the islands.

The underlying theme is lovely and romantic: people should work to win their partners' love every day. It's too bad the execution leaves the audience feeling dumped.