First Impressions: "50 First Dates" (2004) + "Footloose" (1984)

   Well, now I've finally got back to the line-up of films I've downloaded, interspersed with the James Bond series. :) First up, a movie that I watched just because it's on the Movie Compatibility Test on Flixster, followed by an 80s cult classic.

   Henry Roth meets Lucy Whitmore and thinks he's finally found the girl of his dreams, until he discovers she has short-term memory loss and forgets all about him the next day.
   Just because Adam Sandler was in this, I was already dreading it, but I'll give anything a chance. But it turned out to be far worse than I could have expected!
   First of all, as you can probably guess, the overly crass humour just annoyed the fuck out of me. Any of Rob Schneider's screen time was especially insufferable. But on top of that, the romantic side of the story is so sappy that it really gives you whiplash when it's playing off such vulgar humour. So it fails as a romantic comedy because the romance and the comedy contrast too sharply.
   And don't even get me started on my issues with the film's morals! That's a discussion for a full review. But here's the gist of it: even though everyone had good intentions, I just felt like they were all simply exploiting Lucy regardless. Henry himself clearly has a conscience and knows it'd be wrong to take advantage of his fear of commitment… but he does so anyway. And as for Lucy's father and brother… well, the longer you keep up a charade, the harder it's likely to bite you in the ass.
   So there you go. I hated almost everything about this movie, and I just felt bad for Drew Barrymore for appearing in it.
   My rating: 20%.

   Ren McCormack moves from the city to a small town where dancing and rock music have been banned, and his rebellious spirit threatens to change that.
   So now I've seen both the two 80s dance movies I've seen get the most attention. :) Perhaps surprisingly, I liked Dirty Dancing, but this one just didn't do much for me.
   It's interesting, though, that this movie is the polar opposite of Dirty Dancing in some ways. :) What really made Dirty Dancing was the bond between the two leads, but the romance here is not in the forefront of the story, and it's just kind of mediocre. Ariel is established as a fiercely rebellious spirit before we even meet Ren, so it just seems like they were meant for each other anyway.
   Also, I felt the only letdown of Dirty Dancing was the villains. But the main antagonist here, the Reverend Shaw Moore, is not just a simple stick-in-the-mud who won't listen, but is actually a three-dimensional and kind of sympathetic character.
   But I think the main reason I couldn't get into this movie is because the prejudiced environment comes off as very peripheral. Ren getting into trouble at school, the townspeople violently turning against him and his mother… all these ideas are hinted at, but none of them are fully fleshed out.
   So if you like Footloose, if it inspired you, great. I just found it to be really nothing special.
   My rating: 55%.