Mr. Deeds Synopsis: A sweet-natured, small-town guy inherits a controlling stake in a media conglomerate and begins to do business his way.
When multi-millionaire Preston Blake dies while climbing Mount Everest, he leaves his fortune to his next of kin, Longfellow Deeds. Deeds is a lovable, down-to-earth kind of guy from Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire. Blake’s partner, Chuck Cedar, is looking to have Deeds sign over the 300 million shares of Blake Media that was left to him in order to control and then sell the company for a large profit. Along the way, Deeds charms everyone around him and falls in love with sweet “school nurse” Pam Dawson – who is really Babe Bennett, a tabloid journalist looking to get the inside scoop from Deeds himself.
As I’ve said before, with most Happy Madison Productions, you already know what you’re going to get. It could be delightful or just terrible, and I would say that the majority leans toward the latter. Mr. Deeds falls somewhere in between.
In a remake of the 1936 film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (which, admittedly, I have not seen), Adam Sandler takes on the role originated by Gary Cooper, while Winona Ryder steps in for Jean Arthur as the duplicitous journalist Babe Bennett. The Happy Madison Production’s usual suspects are sprinkled throughout the film: Allen Covert, Steve Buscemi, Rob Schneider, etc. And as you would expect, they’re all playing rather silly characters, where Sandler is the straight man… or the straighter man, since he also has his ridiculous moments.
I can’t adequately compare Mr. Deeds to Mr. Deeds Goes to Town because, as I mentioned above, I haven’t seen the Cooper/Arthur version, but from what I have heard, Sandler’s 2002 remake pales in comparison, which isn’t hard to believe, given Frank Capra directed the original. That’s right, Adam Sandler took a Capra film and threw it into a blender with a cup of Happy Madison silliness. Wait, I’m starting to compare unfairly, aren’t I? But it’s Frank Capra, people.
Sandler is fine in this film. He is who he is, and he’s perfected the schlubby guy next door who wins over the beautiful girl on his journey to… some happy ending. Winona was also…. fine. I have to say, I probably agree with her own assessment that she was miscast. She’s a good actress but seemed a bit out of place in this movie, and I can’t say that she and Sandler had any real chemistry to work with. Was Drew Barrymore busy!?
All in all, I was underwhelmed by Mr. Deeds. It has some funny moments, as most Sandler movies do, but ultimately, it fell short of being a movie I would seek out again.
Watched: 01/17/2022
Notable Song: Where Are You Going by Dave Matthews Band
