MR. DEEDS (Steven Brill, 2002)

Reviewed: July 2, 2002

I enjoy Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and especially The Wedding Singer for what they are: dumb yet sweet and energetic comedies with a strong, appealing comedic actor at their centers. Then came The Waterboy, which still resides on my ten least favorite films of all time list. The ripples on my Adam Sandler viewing habits were large: I gave up on his films for awhile, skipping Big Daddy and Little Nicky lest I risk another nightmare.

Then came news my favorite director, Paul Thomas Anderson, was casting Sandler in the lead of his newest film, Punch-Drunk Love (which had in fact followed news I'd heard over the years that both Scorsese and Tarantino were interested in casting Sandler in two of their upcoming films, Dino and Glorious Bastards, respectively). I was happy and intrigued and not skeptical, as I've always enjoyed Sandler when he's given the right material.

I decided to end my Sandler hiatus with Mr. Deeds for three reasons:
(1) I adore Winona Ryder. I must see everything she does, no discerning allowed.
(2) I wanted to get a taste of Sandler a few months before I see Punch-Drunk so that I can better appreciate exactly what his collaboration with PTA did for him.
(3) I hoped to see a trailer for Punch-Drunk Love before Mr. Deeds (as Mr. Deeds is produced by Columbia Pictures, and Punch-Drunk will be distributed by them).

Alas, no such trailer luck. But goals 1 and 2 were achieved and I even had some fun in the process. While I would never recommend Mr. Deeds nor call it a "good" movie, on the occasional night, it might be just the movie the doctor orders: plain and mindless entertainment that does all your work for you.

A remake of Frank Capra's classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Sandler plays a goodhearted, pizza parlor owner, a country bumpkin who inherits 40 billion dollars from a deceased uncle he never knew. A reporter (Ryder) initiates a relationship with him under false pretenses to scoop some dirt for a tabloid TV show. Add in a mean guy played by Peter Gallagher who was the second in command of deceased uncle's media conglomerate and you have all the hallmarks of mediocre convention.

Sandler does some of his best work ever in Mr. Deeds, as he's more restrained than he was in his first four films and his naiveté and kindness are infectious. He's a simple man, a nice man, albeit a none-too-bright man, but he made me feel good. I think his performance here is indeed an excellent barometer of what he's capable of in Punch-Drunk (although that script will obviously be infinitely superior material to work with) as there too he plays a middle-class, decent business man who falls in love.

Winona is luminescent and made me fall in love with her all over again each time she appeared in a new scene. I find her voice hypnotic and seductive and sad and fragile and wise and lovely and incredible. John Turturro plays Sandler's butler, and he's quite funny with his sidling and his sexual foot fetish and his dumb accent.

Unfortunately not much else is particularly funny here. The only two standout moments of comedy are Deeds's night of debauchery with tennis player John McEnroe (playing himself) and a few lines from an arrogant opera singer. The upshot is the film never tries too hard, it moves along easily (save the ending, which is far too drawn out and obnoxious) and there's no gross-out humor.

Tiny virtues, I know. But Mr. Deeds made me smile. I sat for ninety minutes in the dark and when I got up, I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time.

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