For those who found "Groundhog Day" too confusing: "50 First Dates"

Every now and then I like to throw the missus a bone -- stop it -- and TiVo something for her that I also can tolerate. So it was with "50 First Dates," some hopefully harmless fluff that I figured I could handle thanks to Adam Sandler's idiocy.

Make no mistake: This is not a good movie. But it wasn't as terrible as it could have been, for a few reasons:
1. While removed from his "Billy Madison"/"Happy Gilmore" prime, Sandler still can goof enough to keep you awake.
2. Drew Barrymore truly is annoying, but she and Sandler do have chemistry.
3. The writer(s) showed a lot of guts riding this potentially trite premise all the way through without wrapping things up in a nice, neat package. (I believe the technical term is "day-oos ex mock-in-uh.")

In the end, Sandler's romantic pursuit of the uniquely amnesiac Barrymore -- "I was NEVER in 'Poison Ivy!' You LIE!!!" -- could have been much worse. Instead, it was passable, with decent turns by a lisping Sean Astin (sans hairy feet and with his head out of Frodo's butt) and whoever played Sandler's frightening unisex assistant. As for Rob Schneider ... well, this guy really is pretty much done, wouldn't you say? I mean, you tell me ... would you rather tell people, "I was the 'Makin' copies' guy," or say, "Just call me 'Deuce Bigalow.'"