Review of Mr Deeds

Introduction

When people say how much they like Adam Sandler`s films, they initiate a sequence of annoying voices and superficial laughs in my head, causing me to return the comment with a blank stare. And taking into account the last Sandler film I saw (which is also his most recent), Little Nicky, nothing was going to change my perceptions.

Until now. Hold on a second though - that `until now` doesn`t mean that this is necessarily a good film...it is instead a comment that reflects the potential of the premise of his newly crowned `most recent film`: Mr Deeds. And why I am getting excited of a change of style for Mr Sandler? Because Mr Deeds is a remake of the 1936 film of almost the same name, Mr Deeds Goes To Town.

That film is no doubt adored by thousands of film buffs, one of whom is Sandler`s very own grandmother. Due to her passion for the classic, Sandler himself decided to set sail into remake territory, alongside Tim Herlihy (writer of every previous Sandler film that springs to mind) and Steven Brill (director of Little Nicky, and now, this).

The trio worked together to modernise the story of Longfellow Deeds (Sandler) - a small town guy who goes to the Big Apple to collect a $40 billion inheritance from a long lost uncle. Living in a palatial mansion with the services of an unusual personal butler (John Turturro) isn`t too bad. Things get even better when he meets a beautiful school nurse (Winona Ryder). But money changes everything, and things aren`t what they seem: his sweetie is actually a journalist feeding reports of his outrageous behavior to the press! Now, it`s up to Deeds to straighten everyone out - with a few right hooks and lots of common sense.

Video

1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. The stock is recent - from 2002 - thus the print is crisp, clear and sharp, with a good use of the palette and the colours themselves are well defined, with no bleeding or edge enhancement. The transfer is also thankfully free from artefacts of any kind, so don`t expect any grain to disenhance your viewing experience. Another example of the potential of DVD.

Due to the nature of the story, a swanky and upper-class lifestyle needs to be shown visually: so New York is vast and extensive, with frequent shots of the city`s more classy areas. Likewise, Brill`s directing is good - alternating from interior to exterior with minimal effort, and all of the visuals look polished and well shot.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 (English). The film is dialogue-driven, so unfortunately the soundtrack is a little flat - the soundstage suffers because of the abundance of speaking, so there is little time for rear channel definition or subwoofer action. Luckily, these features do occur sometimes: it`s just that they don`t occur enough to label this a successful surround sound mix. Yes, it may be ambient, but not ambient enough.

For once, this is a refrained Herlihy script - gone are the stupid voices and slapstick set-pieces, in is more subtle character development and some genuine laughs, not superficial, pre-teen giggles. Having said that, at the odd moment he can`t stop falling into the slapstick trap, but on the whole this is an accomplished comedy. One of the best characters, due to not only the performance given by John Turturro but also the skill of the script, is Deeds` servant, Emilio.

Features

The extras begin with an audio commentary with director Steven Brill and writer Tim Herlihy, and it is evident that they are good mates, due to the incessant buddy-buddy banter and wisecracks that the two share. It is also good to see (hear?) their obvious passion for the film, making their track informative, anecdotal, and downright enjoyable to listen to.

Three featurettes are on offer: the first, "From Mandrake Falls To Manhattan", is a 15 minute making-of that, through interviews with the cast and crew, creates a fairly good picture of how Mr Deeds was made. Interesting, but a tad short.

The second, "Spare No Expense", is a look at the more producing constraints of the film - how the budget was used, focusing on set and production design. Interesting, and doesn`t outstay its welcome.

The third, "The Clothes Make The Man", is unsurprisingly, a look at the costume design for the film, featuring an interview with the costume designer herself, along with footage of the designs used. Good if you like that sort of thing, but for me more weight to the proper making-of would have been better.

There are some deleted scenes on offer, which are good (some should have stayed in), and add some depth to the characters. The only downside is the quality, which I suppose is understandable since they weren`t tarted up due to the fact that they weren`t included in the final cut.

A music video of one of the songs in the film is included as well, and it is fairly good, but nothing too catchy.

Those of you wanting to watch professional actors screw up will be content with the outtakes - a short gag reel of Sandler and co mucking up their lines and the like. Not the best set of outtakes ever, but OK.

Some filmographies of the cast and crew are present: nothing great but quite good for the enthusiast who wants to watch other films made by the Mr Deeds crew.

Since Deeds himself makes and reads greeting cards, it seems fitting to include six in the same vein on the DVD. You can watch them, and even send them to friends and family if you have a DVD-ROM drive on your PC.

Four trailers (Adam Sandler`s 8 Crazy Nights, Big Daddy, Men In Black 2, and of course - Mr Deeds) are included, and they round off the extras. They all give good tasters for their respective feature-length counterparts).

The menus are animated well with music in the background and various animations appearing on screen, alongside some footage from the film itself. They are easy to navigate.

Conclusion

Anti-fans of Sandler rejoice! Here is a film that even you will enjoy, as gone are the annoying ideosyncrasies that have plagued many-a-film of his before, and in are sentimental values and genuine humour.

Mr Deeds has a basic premise, but is executed well - the characters are developed and quirky; the writing is amusing and engaging; the acting is good all round; and it all fits together seamlessly under Brill`s direction.

This may not be the most innovative film, nor will it win any awards - but this is not about those cinematic side effects. Instead, it will deliver what every viewer wants: sheer enjoyment. With a fairly good repeat value (the jokes remain fresh), there is no reason why this won`t make the perfect night-in.

The disc itself is another good try from Columbia Tristar, as it seems to give all of their new releases good treatment on all DVD fronts, whether it is a big project or a smaller one. As this falls into the latter category, my expectations for this weren`t as high as say Men In Black 2 (another one of their recent releases), but the overall package is still solid - very good presentation (albeit slightly flat audio) and good extras (quantity is good, but they lack in substance slightly).

Definitely recommended to rent, and if it wasn`t for the fact that I got my hands on this disc for nothing (all hail DVD Reviewer!), I for one would be spending £20 on it. `Nuff said.