Adam Sandler's Mr. Deeds Analysis

"Sandler's Mr. Deeds: Mis-Deeds"

With a prestigious resume' of successful blockbuster comedies, Adam Sandler certainly fails with Mr. Deeds, his most recent attempt to duplicate his past successes. The quick-wit, unexpected, laugh-out-loud jokes are a forte' of Sandler's which go back to his days of being a young comedian on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Sandler's comedy is the only thing that will keep you in your seat for an hour and a half. Fortunately for this movie, Sandler's large adolescent audience awaited the premier on June 28th. It's hard to find the direction of this film. However, it does include criteria consisting of, or the lack-there-of, an unoriginal theme for Sandler, an unforeseen love between characters, an unrealistic storyline, the minuscule co-star involvement, and flat lackadaisical humor, is the proof behind this movie's pudding; it defines the word lousy. However, Sandler's newest flick will most likely enjoy box-office success from the strong fan base that follow every movie he makes. The screenwriter Tim Herlihy and the director Steven Brill appear to use the same old, similar storyline from past Sandler
films: Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), The Waterboy (1998), and Big Daddy (1999). Sandler plays a similar role of a guy that has a big heart with good intentions but is sometimes misunderstood until the "true person" comes out for the doubters to see. A key thing to remember here is that all of the previously mentioned films were successful and in their own way, very original. Mr. Deeds fails to be included on this list.
Sandler plays the role of Longfellow Deeds, a small-town native of Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire. He is a pizza delivery boy/greeting card writer that inherits $40 billion dollars from an uncle he never knew. Deeds is a character that exemplifies a so-called "regular" American. He loves his friends; he loves to make others laugh and enjoys life in general. When his uncle suddenly dies, without a will, Deeds is overwhelmed by conniving executives Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher) and his tobacco-smoking partner Cecil (Erick Avari). The New York City high rollers arrive in Mandrake Falls to inform Deeds of his new income and then take him down to N.Y.C. via private helicopter, to sign over his shares to his dead uncle's vast corporation. Cedar eagerly wishes to take over the corporation and sell all of its shares for an enormous amount of money. However, before the corporation can be entirely sold off, Deeds must be taken out of the equation. The tabloids salivate over who the "new billionaire of New York" is and in particular, one tabloid makes it their agenda to get the "dirt" on Deeds. Winona Ryder plays the role of Babe Bennett, a tabloid TV reporter ordered to expose Deeds as a klutz. She attains information from him emotionally by secretly filming him at his worst and later uses against him, to expose his "flaws." To get the dirt on Deeds, Babe seduces him while pretending to be school nurse "Pam Dawson." He falls for her; romancing her on a series of "dates." For one of their dates they visit a downtown New York City fountain, where they chat about their pasts (hers being false), and when a fire truck drives by with sirens blaring, Deeds, a volunteer fireman back in New Hampshire, goes to the apartment. As Pam looks on adoringly, he saves a woman and her seven cats from her burning apartment. Incidents like this demonstrate Deeds' "do-gooder" lifestyle that he lives. The dates between Deeds and Bennett are boring and unrealistic, wandering from topic to topic, without any sort of comedic punch lines. Occasional stupid slapstick does not help, though it's apparent that someone on the set thought that Deeds' repeated fighting would not remind of us Happy Gilmore. Does anybody remember the ass-kicking Bob Barker gave Happy? Yeah, I thought so.
From this point on, the movie becomes horribly easy to predict. The curiosity and intrigue the movie has, has lost its luster. It feels as if you're watching The Wedding Singer all over again but with a new city, new names, and a "serious" storyline of heartache. Sandler is such a unique comedian that his movies should not have to be based around the same melodramatic themes.
Outside of Sandler and Ryder's performances, there is little or no key role from any other character. Hell, the fact that the John McEnroe cameo sticks out more that any other involvement from a character, speaks large volumes. Now if this movie were a love story, then sure, having only two main characters would work. Sandler is no Brad Pitt, and Ryder is no Jennifer Anniston. This movie is labeled as a comedy but you ponder what this jigsaw puzzle is after watching it. The only laughable moments that clearly stick out come from John Turturro and Steve Buscemi, but we won't go into Buscemi's character, it's just too ridiculous.
The sly humor comes from Turturro, who seems to be in another movie being so removed from the sluggish ongoing bore-fest that this movie is. As the dead uncle's loyal valet, Emilio, Turturro gets to play a foot fetishist who prides himself on being "sneaky, sneaky." His random yet refreshing comedy helps the film drastically. When he's on screen, he has a knack for surprising his new employer by changing locations without moving in any visible sense. These instances are as goofy as anything else in the movie, but they do pick up the pace. As movie viewers, we each have our own ideas of what a good movie consists of.
We all have specific tastes. Some of us will say a movie is really good or really bad, however, it's all about our particular likes and dislikes. Well, in this review, those ideas don't exist. The anticipation of watching a Sandler comedy is always a pleasure and for the most part, enjoyable; not this time around. This movie was at the CUB this past weekend and the admission was three dollars; not even that price is worth it. If you want to see comedy at its best, and you love Adam Sandler, stick to one of his old films, cause you want to refrain from this one. As Deeds puts in one of his greeting cards, "I promise to love you 50 years more, even when your bosom drags down to the floor," the bosom was dragging after the first 15
minutes.