Mr. Deeds (2002)

A sweet-natured, small-town guy (Adam Sandler) inherits a controlling stake in a media conglomerate and begins to do business his way.This film gets a bad rap because it is thought to be a bad remake. And sure, any time you compare an Adam Sandler movie to a Frank Capra classic, the Capra film is going to win. That is just common sense. But think of it not as a remake, but a new interpretation for a new audience. Some folks (myself included) may watch both movies, but some may only be interested in one or the other.For what this is, it is not bad. The more mature Sandler is great. The juvenile humor is toned down, all the way to it only having a PG-13 rating. We do see a man's bottom, but otherwise it is just clean, folksy humor. Winona Ryder does alright as the leading lady. She is not a strong actress, but that is probably not what was called for in this particular picture.

Mr. Deeds (2002): Dir: Steven Brill / Cast: Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, Jon Turturro, Allen Covert: Supposedly based on Mr. Deeds Goes to Town but Adam Sandler hardly fills Gary Cooper's shoes, and director Steven Brill is no Frank Capra either. Sandler plays Longfellow Deeds who inherits forty million dollars. Winona Ryder plays a struggling reporter sent to embarrass him while Peter Gallagher plays a tycoon trying to manipulate him into signing away the company. Lame story with Sandler basically playing the same obnoxious moron he is known to play. He starts out here as a pizza delivery guy before settling in a mansion. Then he is involved in lame subplots, one involving a lady in a burning house who will not leave until Deeds throws all of her cats out the window. Director Brill previously cast Sandler in the equally dreadful Little Nicky. Ryder as the biggest disappointment. It isn't difficult to predict her change of heart and unwillingness to sabotage Deeds. Gallagher is wasted as a rather standard villain. Jon Turturro has the one funny performance as a butler with a foot fetish. He appears periodically but becomes the one good plot turn. Allen Covert also appears as a reporter with more forced humour heaped upon juvenile material. Deeds orders him to beat his frost-bitten foot with a fireplace poker. The same should be done to the film. Score: 3 ½ / 10

This 2002 romantic comedy, featuring Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler) is about a humble guy who doesn't care about money. However, when his rich family member dies, he inherits a very big fortune - inspiring him to do business his way.It all starts when Preston Blake, a very wealthy media figure, dies with no close family, such as a wife or a child, leaving Longfellow Deeds to inherit forty billion dollars. As Deeds sets to New York to claim his inheritance, Preston Blake's former business partners, Cecil Anderson (Erick Avari) and Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher) pretend to show him his way into New York city as they as they hatch a plan to try to scam him out of his inheritance.In the meantime, the producer of a local news station wants to get headlines on what Deeds plans to do with the money. So he comes up with the perfect plan:he will use the beautiful Babe Bennet (Winona Ryder) to seduce Deeds while she is "wired for sound". Her job is to convince Deeds that she is a small town girl just like him. Deeds quickly falls in love with her, while his affection is authentic; hers is not. He also acts antsy "to defend her with his fists", which gets him in trouble with the press.As Deeds becomes the laughing stock of New York thanks to Bennet's bogus stories, Cedar and Anderson think they have found a devious plan to swindle his money. In a dramatic conclusion, Babe Bennet realizes that she loves Deeds and confesses to him. Deeds interrupts a meeting, that is set to liquidate the company, by giving a hearty surprise speech.In a sudden turn of events, it comes to light that his servant, Emilio Lopez (John Turturro),was the originally intended heir to Preston Blake's fortune.

Based on the classic Gary Cooper/Frank Capra original, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, this takes only small remnants of the source material to create a more up-to-date modern version, and fails miserably, from director Steven Brill (Little Nicky, Without a Paddle). Basically multi-millionaire Preston Blake (Patch Adams's Harve Presnell) dies while climbing the summit of Mount Everest, and his company's attorney Chuck Cedar (Sex, Lies, and Videotape's Peter Gallagher) and Cecil Anderson (The Mummy's Erick Avari) are now looking for his closest living relative to give the assets to. They find that in his nephew, naive New Hampshire pizzeria owner and wannabe greetings card poetry writer Longfellow Deeds (Razzie nominated Adam Sandler), who obviously doesn't completely grasp the fact that he has inherited a mass fortune, $40 billion to be exact. Mr. Deeds is brought with them to New York, and he finds himself surrounded by people who are giving him advice he cannot really follow and trying to get their own piece of fortune for their own gains. Meanwhile the press are also trying to find out more about the person who has inherited the multi-million dollar fortune, and it is up television tabloid reporter Babe Bennett (Razzie nominated Winona Ryder) to get close to Deeds, as she poses as an innocent small town girl. In the process of getting to know him Babe loses track of her scoop and finds herself falling in love with the naive millionaire, who is spending his fortune on meaningless things, and even giving away thousands of dollars to people he has never met, e.g. kids and tramps. Cedar knows that he and his associates and shareholders need to get their money back from Deeds, and he does not care how it is done, he eventually comes up with the plan to sell the company. By the end Deeds realises that money is not the most important in his life or anybody else's, and when it looks like everything is lost the true intentions of Blake Media come to light, and his butler Emilio Lopez (Quiz Show's John Turturro) gets everything, while Deeds gets a billion dollars and is happy with Babe. Also starring Allen Covert as Marty, Jared Harris as Mac McGrath, Edward Scissorhand's Conchata Ferrell as Jan, Steve Buscemi as Crazy Eyes, Peter Dante as Murph, John McEnroe and Rob Schneider as Nazo the Italian Delivery Man (from Big Daddy). Sandler is usually a tolerable enough dumb character, but here he is not witty or likable as Cooper was, especially with that stupid black foot, Ryder is a silly choice for a journalist who becomes his love interest, and many of the other cast members are just as bad or annoying, especially Buscemi with his stupid eyes, only moments of Turturro are amusing with his accent. The story should be witty and have a sweet charm about it, with the leading character and how he comes into his fortune and what he does with it, but here it is just an excuse to see a near retarded simpleton get rich, surrounded by equally stupid characters doing almost nothing but throw his money away, and there are the horrible mushy sentimental moments too, absolutely none of it made me laugh, it an atrocious comedy. It was nominated the Razzie for Worst Remake or Sequel. Very poor!