Mr. Deeds Review
by Brendan Cullin (brendan AT empiremovies DOT com)June 27th, 2002
MR. DEEDS
RATING 6/10
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In this, the latest chapter of "Adam Sandler: This Is Your Life", Sandler stars as a good-natured, small town boy whose life of delivering pizzas, writing cards for Hallmark that continually get rejected, and never getting laid, is turned upside down when he inherits $40 billion from an uncle he never knew existed. This is Sandler's first starring role since the much-maligned 'Little Nicky' and Sandler has, without a doubt, gone back to his roots, playing a similar role from his some of his more successful films, such as Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy. Therein lies the problem with Mr. Deeds.
What we are given in Mr. Deeds is pretty much the same Adam Sandler that we have seen in four or five different movies. Perhaps the only difference this time around is that Sandler is not nearly as funny. He sort of mumbles his way through this movie, just like I saw him mumble his way through an interview on The Late Show with David Letterman which aired Tuesday evening. Don't get me wrong. The movie starts out kind of slow and then picks up dramatically once Sandler makes his first appearance about ten minutes into the movie. Then, for about 40 minutes, Mr. Deeds is a very funny movie. But it stalls after that and, for the remaining forty minutes or so, it rarely elicits any reaction
whatsoever.
There is, however, one exception - John Turturro. His performance as Deeds' butler Emilio steals the show. The scenes between Sandler and Turturro are outstanding and almost worth price of admission on their own. The one scene where Emilio beats Deeds' black foot with a metal bar is so damn funny. Once again, Turturro has proven himself as one of the finest supporting actors in Hollywood. This guy should consider doing more comedic work because, let me tell you, he was damn funny. I am going to go so far as to say that he is already my leading candidate for s Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in this movie. He was that good. And, even though it is still early in the year, I will remember this movie when Oscar prediction time rolls around.
As for the rest of the cast, well, they are all okay. Winona Ryder is okay as Deeds' sort of girlfriend. Peter Gallagher is okay as the evil corporate executive, but he should have been better. Erick Avari, as his sidekick, is actually quite funny himself. And of course, Steve Buscemi as Crazy Eyes, is not as funny as he usually is and was somewhat underused in this role. Much like the rest of the movie, Mr. Deeds' supporting cast, except for Turturro of course, is adequate, at best. He should have tried to use Norm MacDonald. I always find good old Normy entertaining.
Overall, I will advise to see this movie at your own risk. Although Mr. Deeds does a very good job for about, let's say, forty minutes, all in all it is typical Sandler - not too far off from about four of his other movies. By no means is this his finest work. It has its moments, and can be a pretty good time if you are in the right mood, but for people who are frugal with the money they spend on movies, I would probably recommend waiting for video or at least going to a matinee for this one.
Review Date: June 26, 2002
Author: Brendan Cullin
Official Site: http://www.mrdeeds.com/
Director: Steven Brill
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: June 28, 2002
Cast: Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, Jared Harris, Erick Avari, John Turturro
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Copyright © 2000-2002 Liam Cullin
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
