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Mr. Deeds is the Adam Sandler take on the 1936 Frank Capra classic Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. And after seeing the Sandler version, my first thought was, “What did Capra do to you, Sandler?”
Sandler plays his usual laid-back “regular joe” character. This time named Longfellow Deeds. Longfellow, or simply Deeds as his friends call him, lives in small town New Hampshire, owns a pizza store, and writes greeting cards in his spare time. One fateful day, he in informed that an uncle he never knew he had just died, and left him 40 billion dollars! Enter Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder), a journalist at a TV tabloid. To get the story on Deed’s, she turns herself into, as she puts it, “Pam Dawson, virgin school nurse,” in the hopes of seducing Deeds and getting her story. Romance ensues, and she finds herself actually falling for Deeds. Unfortunately, Deeds knows nothing of a Babe Bennett, only of a Pam Dawson.
Mr. Deeds is, without question, the worst Adam Sandler movie, period. The comedy is of such a physical nature that it is almost revolting. The “romance” between Deeds and Babe/Pam is awful. You are watching Babe/Pam fall for this yuppie, who beats people senseless for no reason at all. All the while asking yourself why? It is just totally unbelievable.
After seeing a film like this, I appalled to think that fellow Generation Y-ers are defining our generation based on people like Adam Sandler, and movies like Mr. Deeds.
© 2002 Jake Sproul