Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 05/20/2008
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 97 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Sony Pictures
One of
Frank Capra's best-loved stories gets a modernized and wildly
slapstick reinterpretation in this
romantic comedy starring
Adam Sandler. When
Preston Blake (
Harve Presnell), a remarkably wealthy media magnate, dies with neither a wife nor children, the question on the lips of most of his associates is who will inherit the estate. The surprising answer turns out to be
Longfellow Deeds (
Adam Sandler), a cheerful but half-bright proprietor of a small-town pizzeria, as well as part-time greeting card poet, who was a distant relative of
Blake. In order to claim his 40-billion-dollar inheritance,
Deeds heads to New York City, where
Blake's former associates,
Chuck Cedar (
Peter Gallagher) and
Cecil Anderson (
Erick Avari), introduce him to the city while trying to figure out how to get their hands on his new fortune. Meanwhile,
Mac McGrath (
Jared Harris), the producer of a sleazy tabloid television show, wants to get the inside scoop on
Deeds, and comes up with perfect way to get it: he sends beautiful but unscrupulous reporter
Babe Bennett (
Winona Ryder) to sweep
Deeds off his feet while she's wired for sound. Convincing
Deeds that she's from a small town just like himself,
Bennett quickly wins his heart, but while his affection is sincere, hers is not. He also displays a curious eagerness to defend her good name with his fists which quickly gets him in trouble. Meanwhile, as
Deeds becomes the new laughing stock of New York thanks to
Bennett's stories,
Deeds decides it's time he did something big with his money, while
Cedar and
Anderson think they've finally found a way to take control of
Deeds' holdings.
Mr. Deeds also features supporting performances from
John Turturro,
Steve Buscemi, and
Conchata Ferrell.
John McEnroe and
Rev. Al Sharpton make cameo appearances as themselves.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide