50 Fun Facts About 50 First Dates

Who directed 50 First Dates?

Sandler recommended the script to him while they were finishing Anger Management; he had two days off before shooting began.

What is Henry Roth's job?

He works at Sea Life Park Hawaii and only dates tourists to avoid commitment.

What is Lucy Whitmore's profession?

Henry first spots her building architecture out of waffles.

Where do Henry and Lucy have their daily breakfasts?

The real building still stands in Laie, Hawaii.

What is the fictional name of Lucy's form of amnesia?

She remembers everything up to the night before the crash and loses each new day when she sleeps.

What was Lucy doing with her father when the crash happened?

A cow wandered through a broken fence onto the road.

What animal caused the car crash?

Lucy wakes every day thinking it is Sunday, October 13.

What date does Lucy believe it is every morning?

Marlin and Doug re-enact Marlin's birthday every day to spare her the truth.

Which Beach Boys song does Lucy sing only on days she has met Henry?

That clue convinces Marlin and Doug to let Henry keep meeting her — and later hints she is retaining something.

Who plays Lucy's bodybuilding, lisping brother Doug?

He had just finished playing Samwise in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Who plays Ula, Henry's marijuana-smoking best friend?

Ula is unhappily married with five athletically gifted kids.

What is the name of Henry's pet penguin?

Jocko is the walrus who lives at the park.

What kind of animal is Jocko?

He was played by a walrus named Sivuqaq.

Who plays Dr. Joseph Keats, the brain-disorder specialist?

He is the one who introduces Ten-Second Tom.

What is the name of the patient whose memory lasts only ten seconds?

He is played by Allen Covert, who also did uncredited rewrites on the script.

What is Lucy's father Marlin's job?

Blake Clark plays him; the closing scene has him fishing off Henry's boat in Alaska.

How does Henry eventually help Lucy start each day knowing the truth?

He realised her strongest reaction was to feeling betrayed, not to the memory loss itself.

What label is on the tape she plays when she wakes up at the end?

By then it ends with footage of her wedding to Henry.

Where does Henry plan a ten-year research study of walruses?

Lucy breaks up with him when she learns he abandoned it for her.

How does Lucy reveal she has retained something of Henry after the breakup?

She tells him she dreams of him nightly, though she still does not remember him.

What is the name of Henry and Lucy's daughter, seen in the final scene?

Lucy wakes on Henry's boat and sees glaciers through the porthole.

What was the script's original title?

Marketing found the word 'kisses' was turning off male audiences.

Where was the film originally set before Adam Sandler's rewrite moved it to Hawaii?

He also turned the script from a drama into a comedy.

On which Hawaiian island was most of the film shot?

Locations included Kaneohe, Kaʻaʻawa, Waimanalo and Honolulu; the daily drive is in Kualoa Ranch.

Which estate, popular with film crews, provided the road Henry and Lucy drive each day?

Segal thought the original cafe interiors felt like My Dinner with Andre and pushed the action outdoors.

What was the first film Sandler and Barrymore made together?

Blended, in 2014, made it a trilogy; both were directed by Frank Coraci.

How did Barrymore get the project moving?

Sandler joined in December 2002 as co-producer through Happy Madison.

What did Sandler and Barrymore win for the film?

The two call each other professional 'soul mates'.

To whom is the film dedicated in its end credits?

He died of lung cancer in September 2003 at 68.

What kind of music dominates the soundtrack album?

It topped the Top Soundtracks and Top Reggae Albums charts.

Which band's frontman, Nick Hexum, produced the soundtrack?

311's cover of the Cure's 'Lovesong' plays over the end credits.

Which Cure song did 311 cover for the end credits?

'Boys Don't Cry' also appears in the film.

Which famous Hawaiian medley heard in the film was left off the soundtrack album?

Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's 1990 recording and the Beach Boys' song were both missing from the album.

What was the 2018 Japanese remake called?

It came out in 2018; India, Iran and Mexico made versions too.

What Rotten Tomatoes score did 50 First Dates hold as of 2025?

It sat at 45% as of 2025. Roger Ebert liked it more than most, giving three stars and praising Sandler's warmer side.

How many stars did Roger Ebert give the film?

He called it an experiment in which Sandler left behind hostility and gross-out humour.

Which studio bought George Wing's spec script in 2002?

Variety reported it on October 29, 2002.

Which Saturday Night Live alumna plays Lucy's pregnant friend Stacy?

Kevin James also pops up as a factory worker.

What is the name of Henry's ambiguously gendered Eastern European assistant?

Lusia Strus plays her; Henry tries to set her up with a tax attorney.

What is Doug Whitmore's telltale habit?

He also lisps and helps stage his father's fake birthday every day.

Where does Henry Roth work in the film?

He only dates tourists there to dodge commitment, until a broken-down boat strands him at a café with Lucy.

Which 2014 film reunited Sandler and Barrymore for their third collaboration?

Frank Coraci directed both their first and third pairings, leaving 50 First Dates as the only one helmed by Peter Segal.

Sandler pitched the script to Peter Segal while they were finishing which film?

Segal agreed so quickly that he had only two days off between wrapping post-production and starting the new shoot.

Who plays Sue, the café manager who warns Henry about Lucy's condition?

Sue's husband Nick, the chef, is played by Pomaika'i Brown; the pair were friends of Lucy's late mother.

What species is Henry's pet penguin?

The bird rounds out a circle of friends that also includes Ula, Alexa and a park walrus.

What peak position did the soundtrack album reach on the Billboard 200?

It fared better on the niche charts, topping both the Top Soundtracks and Top Reggae Albums lists in the US.

Which future King of Queens star has an uncredited cameo as a factory worker?

Another Sandler regular, Allen Covert, appears as a hospital patient and also did uncredited rewrites on the script.

What grade did CinemaScore audiences give 50 First Dates?

Audiences were warmer than critics: Metacritic scored it 48, and Rex Reed called it 'stupid, coarse and abysmally unfunny'.

At which London venue was the 2025 stage musical adaptation staged?

Casey Nicholaw, the Tony-winning director of The Book of Mormon, directed and choreographed the run from September to November.

The 2019 remake Como si fuera la primera vez was made in which country?

The story has travelled widely, with remakes in Telugu, Malayalam, Persian and Japanese, plus a Thai version due in 2026.