MOVIE: 50 First Dates (2004)

50 First Dates Year: 2004 Rating: PG-13 Length: 99 minutes / 1.65 hours I don't particularly care for Adam Sandler's comedies. Most of them are crass and pull their jokes from bodily humor or the uncouth main character (usually played by Sandler). There are two exceptions to this: The Wedding Singer (1998) and 50 First Dates (2004). Since this is a review of the latter, I won't go into the details of why I like The Wedding Singer. Instead, let's talk about what works in 50 First Dates for me to recommend it. Yes, I'm not necessarily giving this a perfect "5-star" score, but I do think its story has enough merit that you should watch it. As mentioned above, I don't give this film a perfect score, mostly due to Adam Sandler's comedy style. This is mostly exhibited in the first act of the plot, where we meet a reprehensible man, Henry (Adam Sandler), who basically only has sex with tourists so that he...
Read More

BOOK: The Descendants (2007)

The Descendants Year: 2007 Author: Kaui Hart Hemmings Length: 550 minutes / 9.17 hours On paper, the plot of The Descendants almost sounds like a bad soap opera. A man who has the deciding vote that could mean wealth for him and his extended family is dealing with an unfaithful wife who is in a life-threatening coma. The execution of this plot, however, brings so much humanity to the forefront that I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these events were real. While I loved the movie adaptation of this book, the first-person narrative of the book helped add so much more depth to the story. It’s difficult to get into the main character’s head when there’s no internal monologue like in the movie. Of course, with such realistic and vulnerable characters, there were bound to be a few that I didn’t like. Ironically enough, I hated the comatose wife. Sure, her husband was probably a bit of a workaholic, but he always meant well and was...
Read More