by CHRIS BARRY

I guess we shouldn't ever expect too much from a Happy Madison production. Adam Sandler's studio is responsible for such distinguished classics as Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star and The Animal. But there are still a few of us who remember when Sandler the actor-comedian could be funny, and vaguely hope there might be at least a couple of laughs to be had when plunking down the big bucks to go see yet another one of his shitty movies. Goddamn, even 2002's syrupy Punch-Drunk Love managed to offer up a few jokes that actually connected.

But there ain't a whole lot to laugh about with Sandler's latest venture, 50 First Dates. No-sir-ee. This is just one more dumb, lazily-scripted romantic comedy, neither funny nor too likely to warm your heart for Valentine's Day.

Sandler plays, essentially, the same ol' lovable boob he plays in pretty well all his movies, this time though, as a career skin dog who suddenly abandons his womanizing ways after meeting Drew Barrymore one morning in a breakfast diner. They immediately fall in love, except - get ready, here it comes - they've got one minor obstacle standing in the way of their happiness: Barrymore has no short-term memory, an arguably slight handicap which causes her to constantly forget who Sandler is. Each morning she awakes, not recalling a thing about yesterday, making a meaningful relationship between the two of them kind of difficult. But Sandler is determined to make it work with this brain-damaged beauty, so each morning he dutifully approaches her as a stranger and tries to make her fall in love with him all over again. Throw in Barrymore's over-protective hillbilly family, Rob Schneider as Sandler's hapless, doob-addicted, Hawaiian buddy, and you've got yourself yet another low rent Adam Sandler/Happy Madison production.

Historically, Sandler the studio exec has handed over the particularly useless films for his buds Schneider or David Spade to do, keeping the mediocre stuff for himself. But not this time. 50 First Dates is almost certainly the lamest Sandler vehicle to date. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is truly saying something.

50 First Dates opens Friday, Feb. 13

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