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In this, the latest chapter of "Adam
Sandler: This Is Your Life", Sandler stars as a good-natured, small
town boy whose life of delivering pizzas, writing cards for Hallmark
that continually get rejected, and never getting laid, is turned upside
down when he inherits $40 billion from an uncle he never knew existed.
This is Sandler's first starring role since the much-maligned 'Little
Nicky' and Sandler has, without a doubt, gone back to his roots, playing
a similar role from his some of his more successful films, such as Billy
Madison, Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy. Therein lies the problem with Mr.
Deeds.
What we are given in Mr. Deeds is pretty much the same Adam Sandler that
we have seen in four or five different movies. Perhaps the only
difference this time around is that Sandler is not nearly as funny. He
sort of mumbles his way through this movie, just like I saw him mumble
his way through an interview on The Late Show with David Letterman which
aired Tuesday evening. Don't get me wrong. The movie starts out kind of
slow and then picks up dramatically once Sandler makes his first
appearance about ten minutes into the movie. Then, for about 40 minutes,
Mr. Deeds is a very funny movie. But it stalls after that and, for the
remaining forty minutes or so, it rarely elicits any reaction
whatsoever.
There is, however, one exception - John Turturro. His performance as
Deeds' butler Emilio steals the show. The scenes between Sandler and
Turturro are outstanding and almost worth price of admission on their
own. The one scene where Emilio beats Deeds' black foot with a metal bar
is so damn funny. Once again, Turturro has proven himself as one of the
finest supporting actors in Hollywood. This guy should consider doing
more comedic work because, let me tell you, he was damn funny. I am
going to go so far as to say that he is already my leading candidate for
s Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in this movie. He was that
good. And, even though it is still early in the year, I will remember
this movie when Oscar prediction time rolls around.
As for the rest of the cast, well, they are all okay. Winona Ryder is
okay as Deeds' sort of girlfriend. Peter Gallagher is okay as the evil
corporate executive, but he should have been better. Erick Avari, as his
sidekick, is actually quite funny himself. And of course, Steve Buscemi
as Crazy Eyes, is not as funny as he usually is and was somewhat
underused in this role. Much like the rest of the movie, Mr. Deeds'
supporting cast, except for Turturro of course, is adequate, at best. He
should have tried to use Norm MacDonald. I always find good old Normy
entertaining.
Overall, I will advise to see this movie at your own risk. Although Mr.
Deeds does a very good job for about, let's say, forty minutes, all in
all it is typical Sandler - not too far off from about four of his other
movies. By no means is this his finest work. It has its moments, and can
be a pretty good time if you are in the right mood, but for people who
are frugal with the money they spend on movies, I would probably
recommend waiting for video or at least going to a matinee for this one.
 
- 6/10
Brendan Cullin - Senior
Editor
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