Whether you’re hungover on a rainy Sunday afternoon, or indulging in a cheesy rom-com film fest, 50 First Dates ticks plenty of boxes. Adam Sandler drops his usual wisecracks and Drew Barrymore responds with sweet-as-pie naivety, bouncing off each other in perfect harmony, just like they did in 1998’s The Wedding Singer. Sadly, 50 First Dates only racked up a rating of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, and that’s not the only problem. Looking back, the storyline is actually really messed up.
ICYMI, the film follows the story of Henry Roth (played by Sandler) who meets the beautiful Lucy (played by Barrymore) and the pair hit it off immediately. Henry thinks he’s found the girl of his dreams until he discovers Lucy has short-term memory loss and forgets him the next day.
A car accident left Lucy with anterograde amnesia, which means she can’t form new memories and wakes up every morning thinking it’s Sunday, October 13th one year ago. To spare her from the truth, Lucy’s father and brother re-enact her birthday every day, putting out the same newspaper, refilling her shampoo bottles and rewatching the same TV shows and movies.
Spoiler alert: Eventually, Lucy discovers what’s going on and Henry decides to make a video which explains her accident and their relationship that she can watch when she wakes up every day. The pair eventually end up getting married and taking a year-long sailing trip. In the last scene, Lucy wakes up and watches her video to find out she’s not only married and living on a huge boat out in the ocean, but also has a daughter named Nicole.
While the concept is sweet, the reality of this would be terrifying. Imagine waking up every morning not knowing where you are or what’s going on. Add to that not knowing you’re pregnant and waking up to see your growing belly every day for nine months and this sounds like a *literal* nightmare.
I might be overthinking it, but in hindsight, the film is pretty disturbing and it’s actually a reality for some people. Like Lucy, Michelle Philpots from the UK lost her short-term memory after a car crash in 1994. Every day when she wakes up her husband has to convince her they’re married and even shows her their wedding album when she’s in doubt.
There’s comfort in knowing that like Henry in the movie, Michelle has a husband who supports her in any way he can…but I don’t think I’ll ever see 50 First Dates the same way again.