Sandler plays Henry Roth, a veterinarian on Maui whose vocation is veterinary medicine, specializing in marine mammals, and whose avocation is romancing vacationing mainlanders. Until he falls in love with Lucy - that's Barrymore - who is suffering from short-term amnesia caused by a car accident a year earlier. For her - each day begins life anew, as her doctor (Dan Aykroyd) patiently informs her, once again, that her condition is permanent. So Henry must woo and win Lucy's heart day-after-day-after-day.

Directed by Peter Segal ("Anger Management") from a script by George Wing, it's a skewed cross between "Memento" and "Groundhog Day." Problem is: Adam Sandler's no Bill Murray. But he does rise above one's expectations, as he did in "Punch-Drunk Love." And Barrymore's sweetly goofy art teacher is delectable, even as she builds a fort out of waffles. On the other hand, Rob Schneider is annoying as Henry's stoner buddy, as is Sean Astin as Lucy's steroid-popping brother. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "50 First Dates" is a sweetly giddy, nonsensical 6. Daffy and outlandish, it's nevertheless a good first-date movie with happy ending.