Mr. Deeds
dir. Steven Brill
Columbia Pictures
It's rough when an established comedic actor tries to
become a straight man. The audience
expects one thing and gets something it didn't pay
to see. The equation for Mr. Deeds
should be simple: An exorbitant $20+ million
salary for Adam Sandler + a marketing campaign that
promises Adam Sandler doing his thing = An enormous
expectation for Adam Sandler to make a really
funny film.
Instead, Mr. Deeds feels more like a bait and
switch. Sandler stars as Longfellow Deeds,
an all-too-average average joe who's the unexpecting
heir of half of a $40 billion media
conglomerate. The small-town-simpleton-
in-the-big-city routine wears thin quickly, sped along
by
an undercover tabloid TV newsperson (Winona Ryder) who
exploits the new billionaire nice guy.
There are only so
many times that the good guy can show up on trashy
television shows in compromising positions before
he figures out what's going on. The fact that he
barely reacts when he realizes that he's been duped
because of his newfound wealth speaks to just how
bungled the movie is.
Mr. Deeds is dull at best; at worst, it's
seemingly delivered in slow motion, like you've had
a few tablespoons of NyQuil and then you're forced to
watch a Japanese Noh theater presentation of
"Meet Joe Black." There's not enough of Sandler doing
what he does best; he's too talented to be
doing just enough fun, silly stuff for the previews
and then coasting by as a normal New Hampshirian
for the rest of the movie. The rest of the cast
(except John Turturro in his hilarious role as Deeds'
servant) is anywhere from mediocre to snore-inducing,
looking like they're trying too hard to be
funny when juxtaposed with Sandler's straight man.
They're not helped by the script. Within the first few
scenes, Peter Gallagher has a line about
crossing the is and dotting the ts. It
is a harbinger for dialogue to come.
Meanwhile, it often feels like director Steven Brill
took the template of Frank Capra's
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and threw in random
sight gags and pointless cameos as if he had a
stockpile of old material left over from other
projects. At times, it doesn't flow
or have any purpose in the story: There's no reason
for Steve Buscemi's character to have "crazy eyes"
other than to have him look weird. It's embarrassing.
When Brad Pitt took a risk and explored new territory
as an actor, he took a smaller role in a
smaller film, Snatch, and I'll bet he didn't
get his normal going rate. Same goes for
Bill Murray in Rushmore and Tom Cruise in
Magnolia. They were clearly playing roles
that were against type, and the studios didn't try to pawn
it off as their regular fare. It is clear
that Sandler is trying to make that transition into
more challenging and perhaps more serious work,
but Mr. Deeds is just going to make his fans
pine for the goofy stuff he's done in the past
and make his detractors pleased that he made a
mistake.
— Mark McConville (markwmcconville at hotmail dot com)
