dirtbag gen X remake<\/a>\u201d of It\u2019s a Wonderful Life?<\/p>\nThe 2002 Mr Deeds follows the general schematic of its source material. Deeds (Sandler) inherits a $40bn fortune and control of a global media empire from a distant relative. He\u2019s whisked from his simple small-town life, slinging pizzas and writing sappy greeting cards, and brought to New York City to sort out his affairs, where he\u2019s beseeched by a money hungry conglomerate CEO, Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher), and hounded by the tabloid press.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Charmingly, this version retains the archaic names of its characters. Deeds\u2019 first name is Longfellow \u2013 an anachronism Sandler\u2019s character is cheekily hush hush about (\u201ceasy with that Longfellow stuff!\u201d he says). The scheming journo (Winona Ryder), desperate to get the scoop on the beneficiary\u2019s identity by assuming another persona, is named Babe Bennett. She fictionalises a lady-in-distress scenario and goes by Pam Dawson to cosy up to Deeds for details. Deeds is smitten by Pam \u2013 who says she\u2019s a school nurse hailing from the far-fetched reaches of \u201cWinchestertonfieldville\u201d \u2013 and unaware of her true intentions.<\/p>\n
Relative to Sandler\u2019s more meme-able performances, Deeds is restrained and well intentioned. His sheer optimism and general affability is blinding to the capitalist interests of the suits. His virtuous qualities chafe against those who want to exploit such naivety for a quick buck. He greets the housekeepers of his shiny New York apartment with hugs, and befriends the sneaky butler, Emilio (John Turturro).<\/p>\n
Winona Ryder plays a scheming journo who cosies up to Deeds (Sandler). Photograph: Reuters\/Jon Farmer\/New Line Cinema<\/p>\n
The film isn\u2019t all hokey. The funniest parts come from flashes of Sandler\u2019s characteristically crass humour. In the 1930s film, we see Deeds playfully probe the features of his new living space. He invites his housekeepers to yell into the echoing expanse of space, and neatly slides down the railing from the upper floor of the apartment. In the 2000s version, an elderly gent takes the chance to send \u201cboob!\u201d reverberating through the halls, and Deeds\u2019 railing slide sends him crashing full speed into a table. The joy of this kind of noughties comedy lies in these flashes of absurdity, such as when characters inexplicably perform beyond their mortal means: John McEnroe\u2019s cameo sees him jump over a moving vehicle; Babe dropkicks a woman through a table; Deeds scales a burning building as if he\u2019s Spider-Man.<\/p>\n
The scene that holds the film together, though, is Pam\u2019s sincere reading of Deeds\u2019 schmaltzy greeting card poetry and its rudimentary rhyme schemes (\u201cFinally time\/for this poor schlub\/To know how it feels to fall in lub\u201d). It\u2019s genuine movie magic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mr Deeds\u2019 turn-of-the-century sentimentality and tidily sketched good v evil dynamic is a balm. Its stick-it-to-the-man themes are simplistic compared with the original but it\u2019s also one of Sandler\u2019s most underrated lead roles. He\u2019s not doing a silly little voice, and there\u2019s authenticity alongside his buffoonery.<\/p>\n
The year 2003 wasn\u2019t only Razzie territory for Sandler: it also saw him similarly tone down his excesses to lead Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s moody Punch-Drunk Love in a decidedly serious performance that netted him his first Golden Globe nomination. A great film, but it nonetheless pales against the primitive pleasures of crude comic violence, like seeing people unexpectedly punched in the face.<\/p>\n
Mr Deeds is available to stream on Binge, Foxtel and Prime Video in Australia, and to buy or rent on Apple TV or Prime Video in the US and UK. Find more recommendations of what to stream in Australia here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Sandler has long been the Razzies\u2019 punching bag. In 2012 he famously swept every category at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,337],"class_list":["post-696693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}