Don't let the fancy clothes fool you.
When Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler) from the small town of Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire USA, inherits controlling interest in a massive media corporation from his deceased uncle, he starts injecting his small town values into its various sections. New York tabloid TV reporter, Louise "Babe" Bennett (Winona Ryder), is sent undercover as a small-town girl to do an exposé, but of course, she falls in love with him along the way...
Based on the 1936 film Mr Deeds Goes to Town by Robert Riskin, from the short story Opera Hat by Clarence Budington Kelland.
Special Agent Matti
Mr Dud.
Adam Sandler has a low batting average when it comes to movie hits. Consider his record over the past few years:
2002: Mr DeedsHigh, low, low, high.... you never can tell until it's too late and you've already forked over the cash. Well, now you can be warned because Mr Deeds sucks. It's flat all round, from script to performances. Adam wanders through the eponymous role like a tortoise on valium. Winona just plays Winona (again). The two wacky sidekicks, Peter Dante and Jonathan Loughran (Note to Ed.: those names might not be right but no-one will ever know because they only act in Adam's films anyway) are two wacky sidekicks but they are so over the top that you would be forgiven for thinking that they have a bet on to see who can do the worst performance before someone speaks about them to Adam. The direction is meaningless and actually makes the story harder to follow. That's some achievement given that the plot is as thin as any excuse to invade Iraq.
2000: The animal
2001: Joe Dirt
2000: Little Nicky
1999: Big daddy
1999: Deuce Bigalow: male gigolo
1998: Waterboy, the
1998: Wedding singer, the
1996: Happy Gilmore
However, if you want a few laughs (priced around a dollar each) and you don't want anything to think about, Mr Deeds is the perfect film for you. It's the kind of flick that makes you wonder how much money the studios have to throw away each year, and whether they pick scripts by throwing them all up in the air and seeing which one lands on top.
M (Low level violence, low level coarse language)
92 minutes (1:32 hours)
Film: 22 August 2002
DVD rental: 12 March 2003
VHS rental: 12 March 2003