Starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Rated PG.

In one of the least convincing preambles since George Bush told everybody it would be fun to put on combat boots, 50 First Dates presents Adam Sandler's character, Henry Roth, as a love-'em-and-dump-'em playboy with a slick patter and the moral scruples of a walrus. Maybe that's because he's the veterinarian at an Oahu aquarium, a great job that gives him the opportunity to hang out with vomiting sea mammals, dressed-up penguins, a Russian immigrant of uncertain gender (unfunny Lusia Strus), and Hawaiian potheads with a zillion kids (Rob Schneider, who can't seem to remember what accent he's supposed to have).

If that weren't sweet enough, the gig also leaves him ample time to work on his boat, pick up tourist chicks, and, ultimately, to spend every day proving what a nice guy he actually is--to us and to Lucy (Drew Barrymore), a dishy art teacher whose rare brain condition leaves her utterly confused about what happened the day before (ah, the perfect American voter!).

The upshot for Lucy is that she lives the same 24 hours every day, which is quite a chore for her gruff dad (Sandler veteran Blake Clark) and steroid-dripping brother (Sean Astin, taking a hilarious break from his Lord of the Rings earnestness). Lucy thinks it's her father's birthday, so--in a surrealistic parody of ordinary family life--they perform the same tedious rituals over and over, right down to pretending to be surprised by the end of The Sixth Sense.

The film was directed by Anger Management's workmanlike Peter Segal from a script by neophyte George Wing. The material is pretty thin, and it resembles the Farrelly brothers' stuff both in its fascination with bodily functions and its weird contradiction; i.e., its pleas for tolerance masquerading as homophobia. (Or is it the other way around?)

The Hawaiian locations are not all that well used, and the movie is nothing special to look at. But the cast, augmented by SNLers like Dan Aykroyd's philosophical doctor, has enough verve to keep us going on Dates. The script never addresses its central irony, that a Peter Pan who can't commit finally chooses a life of endless repetition. But he is doing the repeating with Drew Barrymore, at her most effortlessly lovable. And what the hell; maybe that's enough.