Film

Mr Deeds (2002)

Director: Steven Brill

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Those sensible folk who fail to comprehend the appeal of Adam Sandler should steer clear of this redundant remake of Mr Deeds Goes to Town, in which the star and his numbskull cronies piss on Capra's grave with acrid insincerity. Sandler plays Longfellow Deeds, a lovable goofball with a heart of gold and fists of steel who heads for New York after inheriting $50 billion from an uncle he never knew he had. No sooner is he in the city than a succession of unscrupulous caricatures - hack honey-trap (Ryder), cunning MD (Gallagher), media sleaze (Harris) - attempt to screw him out of his fortune. With its Depression-era setting, the original version of this tale of sudden wealth and city deception had some resonance, but here it's just an excuse for Sandler to lope about, slapping strangers for laughs and delivering one of the limpest cornball closing speeches ever heard. Manfully backing him up is Turturro in a fantastic turn as Deeds' butler. Ryder proves that with those eyes she'll never go hungry, while the other cast members are woefully under-served, forced to play second fiddles to Sandler's undeveloped buffoon.

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