High concept rom com has problems – it sort of coughs and splutters in places, relies too often on old people saying something rude or cutting to an animal to get a laugh, goes on a bit. But I love it for one overall reason – the ending doesn’t cop out; Drew Barrymore doesn’t get magically better, but the filmmakers find a way to make it heart-warming. That is very hard to do, and very good filmmaking. There are other things in favour of the film as well: the charming Hawaiian settings, the chemistry of Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler (Barrymore is perhaps the best co-star in Hollywood of dorky men – she really makes them likeable and is believably attracted to them), the fact that the supporting characters operate in their own world of comedy, eg Sean Astin with a series of steroid gags, Dan Aykroyd with monologue lines that aren’t particularly funny, Rob Schneider going off and doing apparently whatever he feels like.
(A note on re-watching this years late - the ending really got to me again, with Barrymore waking up to find herself on a yacht in the Arctic with a husband and little daughter plus her dad along... brought a tear to my eye. Maybe I'm getting old.)
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