July 19, 2002 – Well, "Mr. Deeds" may have gone to town in the 1936 movie with Gary Cooper under the always adroit direction of Frank Capra, but this Mr. Deeds barely gets down the road, according to a preponderance of critics.
This Mr. Deeds is Adam Sandler, in the person of Longfellow Deeds, a New Hampshire pizza parlor owner who amuses himself writing abominable greeting card verse until he finds he has been left $40 billion by a long-lost relative.
This, of course, sends him to New York to collect his dues. There, his native charm bowls over the city's bad guys and a slick TV reporter played by Winona Ryder who tricks him into giving her what one critic calls "scurrilous scoops," only to discover, alas, that she has fallen for the pizza parlor poet. What is a girl to do? We'll let you guess.
The movie boasts two major talents, Steve Buscemi and John Turturro, who are cast as the bad guys, roles they handle well but get little chance at with this script. One reviewer said the most interesting thing bout the film is how lacking it is in any of the things — such as humor or emotion — that we might go to the movies to be entertained by.
Still, with all that talent running around loose, there must be a laugh or two concealed somewhere.
"Mr. Deeds" is about an hour and a half long and is rated PG-13 for language and "some rear nudity." Now, that alone might be worth the price of admission.
It is playing at Market Square East on St. Thomas.
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