The ending of the movie “50 First Dates” with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler has been changed
20 years have passed, but Drew Barrymore can’t forget how one of her rom-com classics almost didn’t come to fruition.
Barrymore, who starred alongside Adam Sandler in the 2004 romantic comedy “50 First Dates,” revealed on a recent episode of “The Drew Barrymore Show” that the film originally had a different ending.
Directed by Peter Segal, the film is set in Hawaii and follows star-crossed lovers Lucy Whitmore and Henry Roth. Despite their great chemistry, the couple’s romance is repeatedly thwarted by Whitmore’s short-term memory loss, which causes her to forget her relationship with Roth.
When asked by Drew’s News contributor Ross Matthews if the ending of any of her films had been later changed, Barrymore replied that 50 First Dates – originally titled 50 First Kisses – was written as a “Seattle-set drama.”
The final version of the film ends with Whitmore regaining her memory after watching a videotape recorded by Roth, and later reuniting with him and their daughter. But Barrymore said the original ending wasn’t as pretty.
Whitmore tells Roth, “‘You should go and live your life, because this is no life,'” Barrymore recalls. “And (Roth) walks away, like he does, and he comes back and goes into the restaurant and just sits down and says, ‘Hi, I’m Henry.’ And the movie ends.”
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A shocked Matthews shared his relief that the planned ending ended up on the cutting room floor.
“Honestly, all I can say is thank you,” Matthews told Barrymore. “Thank you for changing it.”
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50 First Dates was released in February 2004 and grossed $198.4 million at the worldwide box office. Barrymore and Sandler received a People’s Choice Award for Best On-Screen Chemistry for the film.
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Barrymore and Sandler reprised their roles in 2020 for a sketch about the coronavirus pandemic on “The Drew Barrymore Show.”
