1639. Mr. Deeds (2002)

Starring: Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, John Turturro

Director: Steven Brill

Running Time: 96 mins

Mr. Deeds is an American film about a kind-hearted small-town man who is unexpectedly named as the heir to a major corporation, but struggles to fit the company’s way of doing business.

The frustrating thing about Mr. Deeds is that, whilst it doesn’t always come off as your average Adam Sandler film, it’s unfortunately only as good as the majority of them. Despite providing a few decent chuckles, Mr. Deeds is a largely irritating and uninteresting film, featuring an incredibly predictable and unoriginal story that’s worsened by a lack of entertaining performances or clever comedy.

On the whole, I really wasn’t a fan of this film, but I will say that there are a couple of moments that do let you have a bit of a chuckle. Although far below the standard of a decent comedy, I can’t fully write off this film simply because of those few moments, and although they’re not the most intelligent or original jokes, they’re light-hearted and simple enough to laugh at, and aren’t quite as annoying as the rest of the film’s humour.

So, the film is effectively a remake of Trading Places, except without the story of the rich man being thrown into poverty. Whilst Adam Sandler’s character, Mr. Deeds, is a surprisingly likable guy, there’s nothing about his supposed ‘heart of gold’ that really made me care about how he was changing up the way the rich guys live their life, and the story felt a whole lot more forced as a result.

Also, the story that unfolds between Sandler and Winona Ryder’s characters is painfully generic. Not necessarily a romantic comedy, but close enough to call it that, their part of the film just didn’t interest me at all, and as every new twist and turn was unveiled, I was more and more underwhelmed by what a predictable story it is.

Meanwhile, the majority of the film’s humour just isn’t up to scratch. Yes, there are a few fun moments, and they do make the film a lot more bearable. However, there are still idiotically cartoonish characters that plague the worst of Adam Sandler movies, awful toilet humour and the odd bit of failed satire. (Not to mention the cardinal sin – celebrity cameos).

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy Mr. Deeds. Although there are a few decent moments, the majority is no better than the majority of Adam Sandler movies: underwhelming, unfunny, predictable and irritating, and that’s why I’m giving it a 5.4.