50 First Dates (Blu-ray)
APPROX. 99 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2004 - MPA RATING: PG-13
" It's cute, it's different, and it's emotionally satisfying. And that's more than enough to compensate for any faults.
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ou also have to give credit to the animal stars—a gigantic walrus and diminutive penguin— and "kikis," the Hawaiian locals hired to play Ula´s kids. Animals and kids are show-stealers, and these would have committed grand larceny were it not for the talents of the two stars.
Video: The SD release looked awfully good, mastered in High Definition, so this is another case where the leap from SD to Blu-ray doesn't seem as obvious until you do scene comparisons. Yes, there's more detail in many scenes, but the backgrounds tend to be ever-so-slightly muted, the way that Vaseline made the old stars look dreamy rather than have their adoring public see every wart and wrinkle up close. I don't know if it was the long lens that was used, or if it's the atmospheric conditions, but the backgrounds aren't as pop-out sharp as on some Blu-ray discs. Then again, this was among the first releases by Sony, so they were still feeling their way. At least there are none of the hiccups here that plagued some of the early releases. All in all, not a bad picture, presented in the same 2.40:1 ratio as the SD version, but, of course, it isn't anamorphic. The Blu-ray provides 1920x1080p full resolution picture, and while it's better than the SD version, I can't say that it's one I'd pop in the player to show guests what Blu-ray can do.
Audio: I don't know why there are even other sound options on the Blu-ray releases. The English PCM 5.1 uncompressed 6-channel soundtrack is the one to listen to. It's been consistently full and rich, with a mellow bass and bright treble in most all of the Blu-ray discs I've reviewed. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround soundtrack in English and French offers a slightly flatter sound experience. Many more subtitle options have been added to the Blu-ray release. There's English, English SDH, French, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai.
Extras: Blu-ray thus far has meant superior picture and inferior bonus features. The original SD release offered a commentary, filmographies, deleted scenes, a sneak preview, music viewo, short "pidgin" feature, and a blooper reel. The Blu-ray release gives you the commentary, blooper reel, and "Talking Pidgin" short feature, but that's pretty good. Many Blu-ray discs offer no extras, and it's especially nice to have the commentary on this one, which features director Peter Segal and Drew Barrymore. Aside from some embarrassingly gushing mutual admiration society moments, their running commentary is fresh and unabashed, a real joy to listen to. They point out how they filmed one romantic scene at the same beach used in "From Here to Eternity," and tell how locals warned Barrymore just in time before she took a dip in the bay where the Café was located. Good thing, because it was a notorious hammerhead shark breeding area. The whole Hawaii thing, we learn, was because of Sandler, who thought it would be more romantic. Originally the script had the location as Seattle. "Memoryless in Seattle"? Naw. Hawaii was a good move.
"Talking Pidgin" is really a throwaway, but the blooper reel is better than most because of the stars´ chemistry. Fans will think it all too short, though.
Bottom Line:
It may not go down as a romantic comedy classic, but "50 First Dates" offers plenty of humor and feel-good moments. It's cute, it's different, and it's emotionally satisfying. And that's more than enough to compensate for any faults.
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