This
Mr. Deeds is an extremely loose remake of Mr. Deeds Goes To Town starring Gary
Cooper. In a stroke of genius casting (I'm kidding of course), Adam Sandler has
been cast in the Gary Cooper role.
Longfellow
Deeds is a fun, likable man who finds himself showered with billions of dollars
after his rich, crazy uncle passes on and leaves him a huge inheritance. To everyone's
surprise, all this money doesn't really seem to change Deeds. He remains the same
sort of good natured fun seeker that he was in the beginning. Of course, there
are many people in Deeds' new life who seem to have a hidden agenda. And the media
doesn't make anything easier. Did I fail to mention that there is also a romance?
Winona Ryder turns up as a journalist who sees Deeds as an opportunity for a big
story, and gradually develops feelings for him.
Make
no mistakes, Mr. Deeds is an Adam Sandler vehicle. Happily, it is far more entertaining
than Little Nicky. Of Sandler's goofball resume, I'd probably compare this film
to The Wedding Singer. No annoying accent here, just a likable Sandler. Adam also
gets help from a hilarious supporting cast, most notably John Turturro as Mr.
Deeds' servant. You might ask yourself; "What the hell is Turturro doing
in a Sandler film?" My response is I have no idea, but he's damn funny and
steals every scene he's in. I also liked Sandler film favorite Steve Buscemi as
a eccentric character name Crazy Eyes.
Mr.
Deeds was directed by Steven Brill and written by Tim Herlihy, two men who work
with Sandler quite often. They do nothing out of the ordinary here. They pretty
much just let Sandler do his thing. And while Mr. Deeds isn't always laugh-out-loud
hilarious, it does have a sweet tone and a surprisingly old-fashioned sensibility.
It also has Sandler's oddball sense of humor. He and Ryder don't quite have the
chemistry that Sandler and Drew Barrymore had in The Wedding Singer, but there's
still enough sparks to make the movie work.
I'm
a big Sandler fan. I really enjoyed Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and The Wedding
Singer. I even enjoyed parts of Big Daddy. I could have done without The Waterboy
and Little Nicky and thankfully, the light and nutty Mr. Deeds is much better
than both of those films. Is this better than the original? Of course not. These
are different times and Sandler knows that. He's taken the original and made it
his own and for Sandler fans, that's a good thing indeed.
