Mr. Deeds (2002)
Grade: C-
Cast: Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi
Director: Steven Brill
Rated PG-13 for language, sexual references, comic violence


"Mr. Deeds" is a curiously muted summer comedy that intends to bring back the fans that turned on Adam Sandler with "Little Nicky" (which, ironically enough, may be his funniest film). The key problem with "Mr. Deeds" is the titular character. Sandler plays him with exactly the kind of performance required (in other words, it's the script's fault), but he’s too nice. Adam Sandler is at his best when he’s playing mean, antisocial people (“The price is WRONG, bitch!” is probably the best Sandler scene yet, or at least the most memorable), and at his worst when they are nice. The film has its share of big laughs, but it cannot overcome the basic miscalculation in its main character. Trust me, this guy is *nice*.

Take, for example, a scene from one of the trailers that have been playing 24/7 for months now. Longfellow Deeds (Sandler) is sitting on a couch, and starts speaking of “wicked bad frostbite” (which reminds me: ‘wicked’ must be the new adjective to use. In that case, this is a wicked uneven movie). He then tells Emilio (John Turturro), a butler, to go get a stake and drive it through his frostbitten foot. He does so and keeps doing it, until the stake goes all the way through. Deeds screams in agony and yells “You’re sick!” until finally settling back into a safe defense: “I’m just kiddin’ ya, pal.” This is a wicked good way to screw up a joke. Call me childish, but wouldn’t it be a lot funnier if Deeds were actually hurt? It always ruins the effect of a joke when the audience realizes (and the smart ones realize it right off the bat) that they are laughing at laughter.

The story, from the trailers, and for those who have seen the original Gary Cooper film "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town," is well known: Longfellow Deeds inherits $40 billion from his wealthy, old, wicked uncle, who has died in a freak mountain-climbing incident. Deeds didn’t even know he had an uncle, but now he’s in New York City, and is being stalked by reporter “Pam Dawson” (Winona Ryder, whose salary probably wasn’t big enough to get her out of shoplifting, at least judging from the quality of the role), who wanted a story, but got love instead (the film is so nice, indeed, that I can imagine that very line being in an original draft of the screenplay). Yes, she falls in love with Deeds, and he finds out she was a reporter, etc., etc., blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda. The point is, the ending is happy, and there are a few wicked chuckles along the way.

But does that give me my money’s worth? The film’s production must have been messed up because the planning was so backwards. "Mr. Deeds" plays like they thought of the jokes first, and then the characters to tell the jokes, and then the saintly excuses that make the jokes fall flat. However, the jokes that work are not usually from Sandler. They are usually from the supporting characters, especially Turturro’s Emilio. He is one of the best comedic supporters in quite a while, and without Turturro ever going over the top, he’s laugh-out-loud funny. And Steve Buscemi is in this movie. He has no point, but he’s in it. Same goes for Rob Schneider. But that’s forgivable; any Sandler production, whether he’s starring or producing, must have the line, “You can do it!” spoken in the same voice (by Schneider if Sandler is starring, and Sandler if Schneider is starring). This is often accompanied (or am I just thinking of one of the Sandler films I've seen too many times?) with “Cut his freaking balls off!”

In its defense, I laughed sometimes. Every time John Turturro was on screen, I laughed. A lot of the other supporting characters made me laugh. I occasionally laughed at Deeds’ wannabe-Hallmark cards. The finale surprised me, and, since I saw it the same day as Scooby-Doo, it was used as a mind-cleanser and was most definitely worth my time. But it’s all dragged down because of a clichéd plot, and because of the fact that Deeds is TOO NICE. It will most likely be a huge hit, and I’m not going to go out of my way to tell people how much it sucks. You could certainly do a lot worse. But the safeness makes it seem as if Sandler wants to make up for playing the devil’s son in Little Nicky by playing an angel, but without bringing in the otherworldly stuff.


-Alex, June 2002