| MR. DEEDS |
 2002 – USA
Director: Steven Brill - Reviewed by Vickie
There. Had to get that out of the way right off the bat. We'll revisit it in a second. Adam Sandler stars as Longfellow Deeds—a man who prefers hugs to handshakes, Cocoa Pebbles to caviar and chivalry to profanity—in this sweet but uneven comedy that updates Gary Cooper's Mr. Deeds Goes To Town for modern audiences. "Deeds," as he prefers to be called, inherits a $40 billion media empire from an eccentric uncle he never knew he had, and goes from small-town guy (whose biggest dream is to write greeting cards for Hallmark) to high-profile high roller. Complicating matters is a tabloid-TV reporter (Winona Ryder), who's sent undercover by her scruple-less boss (Jared Harris, son of Richard) to get the goods on the world's newest billionaire, but who winds up stealing his heart in the process. Also making life difficult for Deeds is his late uncle's former right-hand man (Peter Gallagher), who wants to weasel control of Deeds' company for himself. Oh, and then there's John Turturro. In a delightfully zippy performance, he plays Emilio, Deeds' butler—a charming Spaniard with a foot fetish who proudly proclaims himself to be "very, very sneaky." Indeed. His appearances and disappearances out of thin air (accompanied by a tiny "whoosh" sound effect) were just shy of comedic brilliance. But I digress. Sandler's adaptation of the average-Joe-makes-good story is earnest if somewhat flawed. It's almost like the filmmakers couldn't decide between making a heartwarming romantic comedy or a slapstick-y gagfest. My guess is that they wanted to make it endearing enough to appeal to women, but with doses of juvenile humor injected at routine intervals to keep Sandler's testosterone-fuelled fans happy. Unfortunately, blending the two genres only makes for a confusing tone. Winona Ryder in an over-the-top chick fight one minute kind of kills the sentimentality of Winona Ryder tearfully professing her love moments earlier, you know? That said, when Sandler's good (disposition-wise), he's very good (performance-wise). It was nice to see him back in his Big Daddy mode (sweet, goofy, funny) instead of his (shudder) Little Nicky mode (grating, offensive, decidedly unfunny). After all, who wouldn't like a guy who writes out poems in crayon and rhymes "schlub" with "in lub"? And, despite my issues with Winona Ryder, she was actually rather likable here. Not too irritating, kind of funny, believable. Peter Gallagher relishes his role as the villain, and frequent Sandler collaborator Steve Buscemi delivers a wickedly bizarre comic turn as the aptly named "Crazy Eyes," a delusional resident of Deeds' hometown. Overall, I liked Mr. Deeds. My mom, who attended the screening with me, declared it "cute." It's a nice summertime distraction and, as I mentioned repeatedly above, worth it for John Turturro alone. |
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John Turturro is the best thing about this movie. By far. I loved him
in it.
