BY LARRY CARROLL | The best date movies are the films that make the couples watching it fall in love with each other all over again. Both people laugh together, feel romantic together, maybe shed a tear together, all while projecting the person they love onto the face of the actor or actress up on the screen. Hands are held, kisses are snuck, popcorn is shared, and at the end of the night love has been re-affirmed.

50 First Dates is, quite simply, a great date movie. The plot is completely unrealistic, there are a handful of bathroom jokes that fall flat, but none of this is any match for the sheer joy of watching Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore fall in love again and again and again. If Hollywood could bottle their chemistry and spray a bit on every other would-be movie screen couple, theaters would have to start hosing down the audience at the end of each show.

Sandler is Henry Roth, a Hawaiian gigolo with a long history of one-night stands. Barrymore is Lucy Whitmore, a free-spirited teacher rendered unable to create new memories by a recent car accident. When the two spend their first day together it's enough to make them both dance in joy, but then Henry discovers Lucy's condition and finds himself compelled to win her over again, day after day. It starts out as Groundhog's Day meets Memento meets The Wedding Singer, but ends up being distinctive enough to earn its own spot as a future comparison gauge.

Whether they're singing Beach Boys songs, building log cabins out of waffles or laughing with their eccentric friends, Barrymore and Sandler triumph by pulling off the most difficult task that can be asked of any two actors: seeming like they could be a real couple. These are two actors who have a similar sense of humor, a similar irreverence, and a similar awkward charm, yet Sandler's crude-guy act and Barrymore's flower-power naivete keep them different enough to always be interesting. That connection, coupled with a plethora of memorable Eighties gags, made The Wedding Singer a box office success, but it's Dates that is the far better movie.

The supporting actors of the film all make valuable contributions, most noticeably Blake Clark (Intolerable Cruelty) and Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings) as Lucy's father and brother, respectively. Both get ample opportunities to be good-natured while mining a few laughs as well, as does Rob Schneider in possibly his best Sandler-sidekick role yet as accident prone native Hawaiian Ula.

Sandler fanatics will appreciate the Allen Covert cameo, a too-cruel Red Sox joke, and blink-and-you'll-miss references to Happy Gilmore and Tommy Boy. What some might find surprising, however, is how relatively sedate the comedian presents himself this time around. While this it is minor enough for his core constituency to barely notice, those who were scared away by his outrageous antics in the past may find themselves changing opinion on him here. A lot was made of Sandler's transformation in Punch Drunk Love a few movies ago, but he works just as hard here to sculpt something different than what we've seen of him before -- a person who truly is in love.

It's downright impossible to imagine another actress pulling off the role of Lucy as smartly and sweetly as Barrymore does. During some sequences, she needs to portray the same love-at-first-sight surprise a half dozen times, and she brings something fresh to it in every instance. By the end of the film, your pity for her may be rivaled by a desire to want her life to stay in exactly the same miserable rut. This speaks volumes about how well the actors carry both parts of this romantic comedy, making you fall in love with what seems to be a horrible way to have to spend your life.

Director Peter Segal (Anger Management) keeps the movie humming along at a brisk pace, and even has a few nice surprises thrown in by the time the credits roll. Any moviegoer will find it hard not to squeeze the hand of their date while looking at the beautiful Hawaiian locations, and the collection of love songs on the soundtrack might make this a CD to pick up for Valentine's Day. Aside from minor continuity flaws (keep an eye on Lucy's knife during the restaurant scenes), the filmmakers have succeeded in crafting a delightful, breezy, eager-to-please tale of romance that will go down as a career highlight for both lead actors. Although Drew Barrymore might not be able to remember her Dates, you'll most certainly remember yours.