Posted: 06/29/2002

Mr. Deeds

(2002)

by C.E. Pelc

Is there no limit to the damage and destruction this man can do in the name of bad taste?

I can’t help it - I love every movie Adam Sandler has ever created. From The Wedding Singer to Happy Gilmore to Little Nicky, they are all just naughty indulgences of delight. And while I do agree that all his movies are pretty much the same, I just can’t help it. They make me laugh and feel good about myself. So when I heard Sandler was coming out with his latest flick Mr. Deeds, I just couldn’t wait to check it out. And once again I was not surprised or disappointed - it’s just another great film about a less-than-average guy that ends up doing an incredibly right thing and winning the girl.

A remake of the 1936 movie Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, starring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, and George Bancroft, the movie stays relatively close to the original movie and adds some updated elements, such as Longfellow Deeds owning a pizza restaurant in New Hampshire instead of being a tuba player. And Babe Bennett - played by the charming Winona Ryder (she didn’t do it!) - is a reporter for tabloid entertainment news show.

Deeds wakes up one morning to find that his entrepreneur uncle has left him a majority stake in his media empire valued at $40 billion. He goes to New York City to sign some papers for his money, but in actuality he’s being tricked into signing over his majority stake to the other evil owner of the company, Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher). During his stay in NYC, Deeds becomes the prey of the tabloid news reporters that characterize him as unfit to run his uncle’s company. At the same time, Deeds also meets Babe who is pretending to be a small town school nurse named Pam Dawson in order to get footage of Deeds for her boss’ show. But right when she realized she is really falling in love with Deeds and that he’s not what the media is saying he is, Deeds finds out who Pam Dawson really is and heartbroken signs away his shares of the company and moves back to New Hampshire.

Now to tell you the rest of the story would be to ruin the ending, which is just fantastic. But I’m sure you can already figure out that somehow Deeds outsmarts the evil Cedar and the guy forgives and gets the girl. However, there is more than that and the only other thing I will say is that it involves the servant Emilio, who next to Sandler’s Deeds was without a doubt the best character in the movie. In fact, at points John Turturro’s Emilio stole the show. He was just hysterical.

In my humble opinion, Mr. Deeds will definitely be another hit for Sandler. It’s light, funny, romantic and just lets you leave the theater with a nice feeling inside. If you’ve liked Sandler’s other movies, then Mr. Deeds is definitely a must-see. Oh, and do yourself a favor - pick up the movie’s soundtrack. It’s one of the most well-thought out soundtracks I’ve ever seen.

C.E. Pelc lives in Northern California. She would like to volunteer to help Ms. Bullock when choosing her next film.

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