Pizzeria owner and aspiring poet Longfellow Deeds learns that he has inherited a $40 billion dollar fortune from a deceased uncle whom he has never even met. He is persuaded to travel from his home town of New Hampshire to New York to sign some paperwork before he can legally obtain his fortune. His arrival prompts lots of interest and aspiring reporter Babe Bennett befriends Longfellow in order to do an expose on him. However, when she starts to see that she is reporting on the man of her dreams she tells the company that she works for that she no longer wants to do the report...will Babe be able to tell the truth to Longfellow or will he find it out from somewhere else???
It's fair to say that when a film's funniest moments seem to stem from making echoing noises in large rooms, cats bouncing off firefighter's trampolines and a butler who can move from place to place undetected then you have yourself a real problem. The film is stuffed with cameos from a lot of the usual crew who you tend to find in Sandler's films (though I can't help but feel that Buscemi deserves better most of the time). Whilst it was fun to see McEnroe in a cameo role in this film, he isn't really given anything funny to do (he was much better in Anger Management as his cameo was better served by the plot). Winona Ryder seems a little out of place and there is a bit of a sense of awkwardness about her performance - though she does look pretty damn hot in this film.
Still focussing on the positives, the film does at least have a nice message and Sandler's character is likeable here (compared to some of the horrible characters he's portrayed in other films this came as a big relief). John Turturro's performance as the Spanish butler was one of the film's highlights and despite the film not being all that funny it has enough drive and momentum to prevent it from being a boring film.
To sum up then Mr Deeds isn't a great film and is just about passable due to the nice message that the film presents, Turturro's performance and Sandler's likeability. So yes not Sandler's best film, but believe me there are worse Sandler films out there.
It's fair to say that when a film's funniest moments seem to stem from making echoing noises in large rooms, cats bouncing off firefighter's trampolines and a butler who can move from place to place undetected then you have yourself a real problem. The film is stuffed with cameos from a lot of the usual crew who you tend to find in Sandler's films (though I can't help but feel that Buscemi deserves better most of the time). Whilst it was fun to see McEnroe in a cameo role in this film, he isn't really given anything funny to do (he was much better in Anger Management as his cameo was better served by the plot). Winona Ryder seems a little out of place and there is a bit of a sense of awkwardness about her performance - though she does look pretty damn hot in this film.
Still focussing on the positives, the film does at least have a nice message and Sandler's character is likeable here (compared to some of the horrible characters he's portrayed in other films this came as a big relief). John Turturro's performance as the Spanish butler was one of the film's highlights and despite the film not being all that funny it has enough drive and momentum to prevent it from being a boring film.
To sum up then Mr Deeds isn't a great film and is just about passable due to the nice message that the film presents, Turturro's performance and Sandler's likeability. So yes not Sandler's best film, but believe me there are worse Sandler films out there.