Mr. Deeds


Starring Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, Jared Harris, John Turturro, Allen Covert, Erick Avari, Conchata Ferrell, Harve Prensell. Directed by Steven Brill.

This is a remake of the Frank Capra classic starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. It is of course not to be mentioned in the same sentence as the original, but it is not altogether bad either. The good news is that the extremely moronic stuff Sandler often does is virtually excluded from this film, save the black foot stunt (and that is one of the funnier bits of the movie). And on occasion, including the Madison Square Garden scene, the film can actually be quite touching. Sandler is actually fairly convincing as the decent guy and Ryder is fine as the reporter who (inexplicably, except for the fact he's rich) falls in love with Deeds.

The message of the film is that people should think less about money, compromise their own values less, and think more about small town values of loyalty, decency . Nothing wrong with that (think Enron, World.com, Arthur Anderson, big oil politicians, big money lobbyists in Washington) at all. And the surprise twist at the stockholder's meeting is fun. But unfortunately, too much of the movie is formulaic, smalltown vs. big city people, good characters are good, bad characters are bad with little subtlety. Much of it is unbelievable in the second half of the film - like Babe Bennett is going to give up reporting to make pizzas. I suppose it is silly to expect realism from Sandler, but he is remaking a decent film.

I like watching anything Winona Ryder is in, but unless you are a fan of her work or of a more subdued Sandler, I wouldn't recommend you run out and see it. Although, it seems many of you have.






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