50 First Dates 4K Review (Sony Pictures)

50 First Dates is a 2004 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Segal (Tommy Boy, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, My Spy franchise, Grudge Match, Shameless, Heels, The Longest Yard, Get Smart, My Fellow Americans, and Anger Management). It was written by George Wing (Outsourced, Outsourced TV Series, 50 First Kisses, and First Kiss). It was executive produced by Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, Little Fockers, The Campaign, Sisters, Bombshell, Dinner for Schmucks, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Charlie Bartlett, The Roses, and Blown Away). The estimated budget was $75,000,000 and it grossed $198,520,934 worldwide at the box office. Marine veterinarian Henry Roth (played by: Adam Sandler from Bulletproof, Blended, The Wedding Singer, Reign Over Me, Spanglish, Funny People, Click, Airheads, and Anger Management) lives an enviable life in a Hawaiian paradise. He spends every night with a beautiful tourist in search of an island fling. It’s a sweet life with no strings attached until he meets local Lucy Whitmore (played by: Drew Barrymore from Blended, The Wedding Singer, Scream, Donnie Darko, Firestarter, Cat’s Eye, Poison Ivy, E.T., Batman Forever, and Guncrazy). He and Lucy hit it off from the get-go, but the next day she acts like she doesn’t know even him. Lucy unfortunately has short-term memory loss so every night all memory of her day is erased. A man in love will go to any lengths to win over the girl of his dreams, and if that means having to find imaginative ways of doing it over again every day, then Henry’s up for the ambitious challenge!!!! 50 First Dates might is probably my all time favorite rom com and that’s a bold statement considering all of the great ones out there. Sometimes it’s just special between an actor and an actress when they work together. They were amazing in The Wedding Singer and they were even better in this. Their chemistry is always beyond natural and organic every damn time. I respect Sandler for being consistently loyal to his friends and directors while working on his productions. He ended up collaborating with Peter Segal on two of his other best efforts that were Anger Management and The Longest Yard besides this one. The script and concept is hilarious, it plays out like a dating version of Groundhog Day. It’s extremely creative for the repeated nature of everything. It’s hard to make anyone fall in love once but the main character has to achieve that basically every single day which is a task in itself. Comedian Adam Sandler as Henry Roth is one of his greatest performances of all time. He’s a womanizer at first and he’s all about his fun one night stands unless he finally meets someone special. It messes with his head and he decides to change his entire lifestyle over it. He’s afraid of commitment but he’s willing to give it a chance. He doesn’t know what he’s getting into until it’s already too deep. Lead actress Drew Barrymore is top notch as Lucy Whitmore. She’s a former teacher that doesn’t even realize her current condition. Her family continues to play a complicated game to keep her thinking everything is still normal. She finds out by a mistake that she loses new memories because of a tragic accident. She feels like she’s holding down her father and brother plus Henry so she wants to get help while everyone else is able to function back to their existence without her being in the way. The rest of the supporting cast includes Rob Schneider (Click), Sean Astin (Click), Blake Clark (Click), Dan Aykroyd (Trading Places), Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live), Allen Covert (The Wedding Singer), Peter Dante (Little Nicky), Jonathan Loughran (The Waterboy), Kevin James (Grown Ups), Missi Pyle (Galaxy Quest), Lusia Strus (Good Behavior), Amy Hill (Preacher), Pomaika’i Brown (Hawaii Five-0), Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Kristin Bauer (True Blood), Jackie Sandler (Big Daddy), Katheryn Winnick (Vikings), Anne Stedman (Space Cowboys), and Jessica Bowman (Joy Ride). 50 First Dates is loud out loud funny and truly heart warming at the same time. It shows sometimes a real relationship is worth whatever it takes. These two go through a difficult journey that will put both of them to the test. Henry Roth sees it as another goal to achieve until it becomes serious for him after trying so hard to get her to like him in several attempts. He facing some real competition when it comes to dating now. It has some great development and build up to it. 50 First Dates manages to make the viewer care about the main characters in this so it’s easy to get into the feels or have a legit emotional connection with them here. I think it’s awesome that this is in the same universe as Tommy Boy. It’s full of unique characters that really stand out. It’s not predictable or cliche so it still keeps it’s audience guessing. I loved the ending and it felt right for this rare situation. The replay value is very strong, it just keeps getting better and better on each revisit. It’s one of those movies that could easily be watched all the time and it never gets old. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Sony Pictures! This 2160p (2.40:1) transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 from a brand new 4K restoration is a massive improvement over it’s previous Blu Ray home video release. It has colorful cinematography, beautiful locations, and great production design when it comes to it’s sharp visuals. It has a variety of audio options which includes English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks on the UHD. It’s awesome that Sony actually upgraded the sound besides the picture for this 22nd anniversary version. The soundtrack and score pop out the most for the audio on this home video release. All of the dialogue is crisp, the laughs are elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English, English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. 50 First Dates is an impressive technical experience especially for being an older catalog title. It has an archive “Audio Commentary” with director Peter Segal and lead actress Drew Barrymore. It has the little over 20 minute “The Dating Scene: The Making of 50 First Dates”. It has interviews with Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Peter Segal, Sean Astin, Blake Clark, Rob Schneider, Dan Aykroyd, Allen Covert, Lusia Strus, and many others. It has all kinds of behind the scenes footage and video clips from the film. They go over the concept for this romantic comedy. The project was in development for awhile. Drew wanted to do it when it was originally called 50 First Kisses. When she found out Sandler was going to star in it she wrote him a letter saying that she wanted to do it. They chat about the cast and characters for it. It’s packed with inside information and personal stories about the production. It has the almost 5 minute “Talkin’ Pidgin”. This is all about the Hawaiian language. They explain what certain words or phrases mean in 50 First Dates. It has the almost 20 minute “Comedy Central: Reel Comedy Special” hosted by Rob Schneider as his character in this. It’s mainly a conversation with lead actor Adam Sandler and lead actress Drew Barrymore. They go over their characters and favorite scenes from it. They both answer some questions about it. It has a variety of clips from the movie. It has the unreleased little over 12 minute “HBO First Look”. It has some of the same interviews as the original featurette. It also includes additional moments and thoughts that weren’t featured on it. It’s a nice companion piece to the others. It has a little over 7 minute “Blooper Reel”. It has a little over 5 minutes of “Deleted Scenes” with optional audio commentaries. It has the almost 4 minute “Hold Me Now” music video from Wayne Wonder. It has an almost 4 minute live performance of “Amber” from 311. It has the little over 3 minute “Love Song” music video from 311. It has the “Theatrical Trailer” for 50 First Dates that wasn’t on the older home video releases for some reason. It comes with a slipcover and a digital code. This is must own for any Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, or romantic comedy fan. It’s available everywhere right now including Moviezyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!