50 First Dates appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This became a satisfying Dolby Vision presentation.
Sharpness largely worked find. Some softness impacted a few wider shots but the majority of the flick seemed accurate and concise.
No issues with shimmering or moire effects manifested, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural and the movie lacked print flaws.
With its Hawaiian setting, Dates boasted a vibrant palette that the UHD replicated well. With a nice boost from HDR, the movie's colors seemed vibrant and vivid.
Blacks looked dark and dense, while low-light shots came with positive clarity. HDR allowed contrast and whites to excel. This became a fine version of the movie.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack of 50 First Dates showed some surprising strengths. The soundfield seemed more active than I expected for a romantic comedy.
The forward domain dominated the affair, but not to the anticipated degree. In the front, the music showed good stereo imaging, and effects blended together nicely. Those elements moved well across the channels and meshed together seamlessly.
As for the surrounds, they contributed solid reinforcement and added some unique audio when appropriate. Thunderstorms and sea shots were moderately lively, and the Hawaiian environment seemed pretty engrossing. Again, this soundfield won’t win any awards, but it seemed more involving than anticipated from a film of this genre.
Audio quality matched what I thought we’d get. Dialogue appeared warm and natural, and intelligibility never became a concern.
Effects sounded clear and detailed, and they displayed no signs of distortion. Music proved to be vibrant and lively, as the score and songs sounded clean and rich. Overall, I liked the soundtrack of 50 First Dates.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the original 2006 Blu-ray? Audio was a little peppier, as the Atmos mix seemed a bit more involving and dynamic than the BD's 5.1.
The UHD's Dolby Vision image offered enormous improvements in terms of definition, colors and blacks, and it also lost various artifacts. One of the earliest BDs on the market, the Blu-ray seemed mediocre at best, so this 4K UHD turned into a major upgrade.
As we move to the set's extras, we start with an audio commentary from director Peter Segal and actor Drew Barrymore. Both sit together for their running, screen-specific discussion.
Though pretty lively and chatty, the pair don’t give us much real information about the movie. They go over subjects like differences between the final product and the original script, locations, improvisations, and general production notes.
Barrymore occasionally gives us some nice remarks about character issues and challenges. However, the pair often just praise everything and everyone, and those elements drag down the discussion.
They’re bright and bubbly, and they interact nicely, so the commentary goes down painlessly. It’s simply not terribly informative.
Featurettes follow and The Dating Scene fills 20 minutes, 14 seconds. It gives us notes from Segal, Barrymore, actors Adam Sandler, Sean Astin, Blake Clark, Dan Aykroyd, Allen Covert, Lusia Strus, and Rob Schneider, producers Nancy Juvonen and Michael Ewing, visual effects supervisor Sheena Duggal, prop master Tim Wiles, and cinematographer Jack Green.
They discuss the story’s path to the screen and casting, locations, the use of animals, and the use of minor visual effects. The program comes across as very puffy overall.
Some of the behind the scenes bits are fun, especially when we see Astin’s homemade audition tape, but very little real information appears otherwise, as mainly the participants talk about how amazing everything and everyone was. That means little useful data and lots of fluff.
Talkin’ Pidgin goes for four minutes, 54 seconds and concentrates on the film’s use of Hawaiian slang. A variety of unnamed locals define various terms in this mildly interesting piece.
Next we find an installment of Comedy Central’s Reel Comedy series. This one takes 19 minutes, 39 seconds and comes touted as “Ula’s Movie Round-Up”, so Schneider hosts it in character.
"Ula" chats with Sandler, Barrymore, and Astin as they relate the plot and we see lots of movie clips. It’s more promotional goo and not worth a look.
HBO First Look occupies 12 minutes, seven seconds and involves Barrymore, Sandler, Segal, Astin, Schneider, and Juvonen as they chat about plot, characters and cast. We learn nothing about the film but the interaction between Barrymore and Sandler adds some charm.
The Blooper Reel goes for seven minutes, three seconds. Much of the material offers the usual goofiness and flubs, but we also find some alternate takes and unused footage, which makes the reel more interesting than usual.
We also get a collection of five Deleted Scenes that last a total of five minutes, 10 seconds. A couple offer additional dates between Henry and Lucy, and we also see Henry finagle his way into bed with Lucy.
One dramatic clip shows an aftermath of Lucy’s learning about her status. The snippets are interesting but not much more than that.
We can watch them with or without commentary from Segal. He tells us why they cut the scenes and a few other details about them.
Along with the film's trailer, the disc wraps with three music videos, as we get clips for “Hold Me Now” by Wayne Wonder and two numbers from 311: “Amber” live and “Love Song”. All three seem pretty blah.
A surprisingly sweet and charming piece, 50 First Dates falters at times but remains mostly solid. The film melds a few genres fairly smoothly and seems amusing and likable. The 4K UHD offers very good picture and audio along with a reasonable mix of supplements. I like the film and the 4K UHD finally brings home a quality home video version.
