Mr. Deeds (2002)

"Mr. Deeds" is a modern remake of the 1936 Frank Capra film "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town." The new "Mr. Deeds" stars, of all people, Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler! As the protagonist! I could barely believe it when I first saw the trailer for this thing. Now I've seen the movie, and I can safely say that Capra is spinning in his grave even as I am writing this review.

Anyway, the plot goes something like this: Sandler plays Longfellow Deeds (oh, funny), a pizzeria owner living in Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire. He has just learned that he is the only living relative of Blake (Harve Presnell), a multibillionaire company owner who has just met his death at the top of Mount Everest, leaving his entire $40 billion fortune to Deeds. Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher), a corporate executive at the company, has to take Deeds out to New York to have the papers for this fortune processed and signed. Since Deeds is such a nice small-town guy, however, he is indifferent toward his situation and is barely affected by the presence of an astonishingly large amount of money at his hands. Mistake #1 is having the sweet, generous lead character be played by Adam Sandler, who couldn't play a sweet, generous character if he tried, which he does, and fails.

When Deeds arrives in New York, the press is all over him. One tabloid journalist, Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder), goes undercover as a school nurse named Pam Dawson, and fakes a mugging to get Deeds to talk to her (he likes ladies in distress). She gets dirt on Deeds by putting a camera between her breasts (she gets a good angle for being in that particular position) and watching him get drunk and throw stuff at cars and beat up men in suits who make fun of his poetry (not in that particular order). Of course, somewhere between assisting Deeds in rescuing cats from a burning building and making a jackass out of him on national television, Pam, er, uh, I mean Babe, I mean, whoever, falls in love with him, first to set him up, then for real. One should note that this plot device is necessary for all Adam Sandler movies, though I don't know why.

There are a number of ridiculous, pointless, and, above all, unfunny scenes here. For instance, there is the scene that has been shown in countless trailers, in which Deeds' new foot fetishist butler Emilio (John Tuturro) tests the actuality of Deeds' frostbitten right foot, in which he has no feeling whatsoever. Deeds encourages Emilio, and so he whacks the foot numerous times with a fireplace poker, eventually puncturing it. I didn't laugh at this when I saw it in the previews. I don't think I needed forty other people laughing to make me think I should be laughing as well.

There are other stupid scenes like this. Such as one where Deeds just has to take the exceptionally long railing of his new stairs for a test drive. Of course, he flies off the railing in a fashion which makes it look like he's begging for a laugh, crushing a table in the process. There is also a scene where Deeds is playing tennis with Chuck and keeps hitting people, including Chuck, with tennis balls. I can't imagine what the point of a scene like this is. Apparently, Sandler thinks it's funny when he hits people. There is also a scene involving a cat on fire, which I'd rather move on than describe. Just use your imagination. I guarantee that anything it conjures up will be more interesting than what happens here.

I suppose at this point in the review, you're probably wondering why I gave "Mr. Deeds" a two-star review if I have so many negative things to say. It's true that I laughed a few times, mostly at lines provided by Babe's boss, who hosts a television show which takes pleasure in making Deeds look bad. Another, smaller bright spot is Steve Buscemi, who plays an odd-looking Mandrake Falls citizen known as Crazy Eyes. This proves once more the theory that no movie can be all bad if Steve Buscemi is present. I liked Winona Ryder here, too. She's more sincere than any other character, not to mention being a lot more likable, as well.

The main problem is that these scenes are far outnumbered by the stupid and tedious slapstick gags featuring Adam Sandler. Frank Capra made movies about the little guy, and I highly doubt that his idea of the little guy bore any resemblance to Sandler's Deeds. Capra's little guy would not beat up a bunch of people because they made fun of his poetry. Sandler does, and the audience accepts everything he does, mainly because he's Adam Sandler. If Adam Sandler's hitting people for no reason, it's funny, right? I don't think so. It's stupid, no matter who's doing it.

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