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Adam
Sandler, Winona Ryder, Steve Buscemi, Peter Gallagher,
Jared Harris |
Directed by: Steven Brill
Written by: Tim Herlihy, Clarence Budington Kelland,
Robert Riskin
Produced by: Sidney Ganis, Jack Giarraputo
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
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US:
28/06/02 UK: 01/11/02 |
In
this homage to the 1936 Frank Capra classic MR. DEEDS
GOES TO TOWN, Adam Sandler plays Mr. Deeds, a young
man from the small town of Mandrake Falls, NH who inherits
controlling interest in a massive media corporation
from his deceased uncle. He then starts injecting his
small town values into its various businesses. |
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"Hey
Winona, thanks for buying me a new sweatshirt"
"No probs Adam. It was a steal!"
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Take
one Frank Capra classic and morph it into an Adam Sandler
movie and this is what you get. A very stupid film that's
almost watchable but doesn't really have any reason to exist.
Sandler plays Longfellow Deeds, the long-lost heir to a $40
billion media empire. Of course, his rural New Hampshire ethos
is a scream in New York, where the company's CEO (Gallagher)
plans to take over the business, a Spanish butler (Turturro)
befriends him, a tabloid hack (Ryder) falls for him, and so
on. Of course, his innate goodness wins the day.
Ho hum! At least it's better than the typical Adam Sandler
movie for a few reasons. There's the source material--the
story is actually quite charming and sweet, if far too familiar
now. There's also the fact that Sandler plays the role like
a normal person--no mental slowness, no lame accent. And also
we have that superior supporting cast--although Ryder should
really think about retiring if she can't even be remotely
convincing in rubbish like this. It's bright and colourful
and adequately directed by Brill, although the set design
is ludicrous and the film resorts far too often to gross-out
gags for the laughs (guess again). While there are random
moments of humour or sweetness, the film just isn't funny
or warm or romantic enough to work on any level at all. It
just flits across the screen with no meaning at all, then
vanishes from your mind the second the lights come up. Yawn!
Now where were we...? |
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YET |
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