Mr. Deeds
Director: Steven Brill (Little Nicky, Heavyweights)
Writer: Tim Herlihy (Happy Gilmore, Wedding Singer)
MPAA Rating: PG (Language including Sexual References and some Rear Nudity)
Genre: Comedy | Romance

Our Take on the Film
30-Second Plot Review
How Does It Look?
How Does It Sound?
Bonus Features and Material
Easter Eggs
Parent's Guide
DVD-ROM

OUR TAKE ON THE FILM: 7.5 out of 10
It has come to my attention over the past number of years that people either like Adam Sandler, or they don't like Adam Sandler. Each of these spectrums are represented by passion and fervor. For some, Sandler could release an entire film of armpit noises and puppies running into walls and they'd buy the DVD without a second thought. For others, he could create a better version of 'Titanic' and he would still be a steaming pile of monkey stuff to them. Count me in the first group, without the dementia typically associated with his hardcore fans. I think Sandler makes some good movies, and they're certainly predictable. So it should come as no surprise that 'Mr. Deeds' is neither great nor miserable, but a fun passing of time that will almost assuredly bring a smile to your face more than once. It's Sandler being Sandler with an able familiar cast of friends and interspersed with scenes of real actors having a great time being goofy in Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, and John Turturro. It's one thing that comes through in his films, and certainly comes through in the special features available here - that people have fun making Adam Sandler movies. For those like me, you have fun watching Adam Sandler movies, and as noted, this predictably entertaining film won't disappoint you.

30-SECOND PLOT REVIEW
Small-town guy Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler) goes to the big city 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 everybody out - with a few right hooks and lots of common sense.

HOW DOES IT LOOK?
The film is offered in separate 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen or full screen formats. If you're used to the look of Sandler films like 'Happy Gilmore', 'Big Daddy', and 'The Waterboy' you probably have a good idea of how this movie looks. Bright colours are sprinkled liberally on sets and in costumes throughout. Although fleshtones did seem considerably muted, there is a certain warmth to the treatment that's hard to put your finger on. Set design is excellent, especially in the apartment of the deceased Uncle. Costuming is very well done as well. All told, a good job. It is important to note that I frequently found the film editing to be distractingly poor. Scenes consistently move from one take to the other, which is no doubt typical of any film, but the inconsistency in the look of the scenes and the props themselves was distracting. If you don't give much thought to it, no issues.

HOW DOES IT SOUND?
The film is offered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound in English and Dolby 2.0 Surround in French with optional English and French subtitles. The movie is typical fare in the sound department, ably moving along as best it should. This isn't a film with explosions, crashes, bangs, and gunshots that rocket off all 5.1 speakers and rocks and rolls from one side of the room to the other. This is a fun comedy, dialogue-driven, that plays sound as you might expect and offers a catchy, foot-tapping soundtrack throughout.

BONUS FEATURES AND MATERIAL
A wealth of bonus material is offered here, starting off with a Director and Writer Commentary, featuring Steven Brill (Director) and Tim Herlihy (Writer). The two are obviously friends and frequent business partners as the track comes off as a conversation between friends, which it very much is. The success of the track as a commentary fully depends on what you look for in one. This casual discussion contains almost no outright technical information, but quite a bit of "how we did this" and "why we wrote that" sprinkled throughout. We hear stories about why certain locations were selected, how great the cast and crew were, and an inordinate amount of time discussing what they were going to do but didn't. I found it moved quickly enough, and was interesting enough, but any hardcore DVD connoisseurs will likely put the boots to it. The way I look at, if you enjoy Sandler's films there's no reason not to enjoy this track. Next up are Deleted Scenes, your choice of six. No problem figuring out why these were cut - without a laugh to be found in the bunch this is a pretty sad-sack collection that you certainly won't have missed from the film. Three Featurettes follow, beginning with the 20-minute From Mandrake Falls to Manhattan. Continuing the tradition of the commentary track, this is an effective-enough behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, but is quite casual in nature. Spare No Expense is a 10-minute look at the set design and art direction of the movie, specifically at some of the great sets that were created for the film. The 'rich' areas (ie. apartment, helicopter) really are quite fascinating to see and it's interesting to get this altogether too-quick look at creating them. Finally, Clothes Make the Man runs about seven minutes and brings us a look at costume design with Ellen Lutter, the film's Designer. The movie does adequately take modernized clothing with the old-school sensibility from the original film, and that becomes even more apparent here. A quick Music Video for Dave Matthews Band "Where Are You Going" follows and will be fun viewing for DMB fans - it does include footage from the movie, for those interested. An Outtakes Reel moves us onwards, and does have its moments. However, it lasts only a couple minutes, so try not to get too excited about it. Filmographies are presented for Brill, Herlihy, Sandler, Ryder, Turturro, and Peter Gallagher and are simply lists of previous projects. Deeds Greeting Cards offer six animated greeting cards, narrated by Deeds himself, and a note that we can use the DVD-ROM features to send these cards to friends and family. We close off our Special Features with a full Theatrical Trailers menu containing the trailers for Mr. Deeds, Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights, The Master of Disguise, Men In Black II, and I Spy.

EASTER EGGS
On the Special Features menu move over top of the Music Video option and press right two times. This should highlight the Mandrake Falls Fire Department Volunteer sticker. Press Enter for a brief look at the cast and crew enjoying an "orchestral jam session".

PARENTS GUIDE
The MPAA rates this film PG for language including sexual references and some rear nudity. The Canadian Home Video Rating is PG. Objectionable content is on par with other Sandler films with only minor coarse language, no real sex/nudity, and nothing beyond cartoonish violence. A couple characters get drunk, a few characters takes some punches and beatings played up for laughs, one F-word (but it's bleeped out), about 15 S-words, and about 20 other words that aren't out of place on your evening sitcoms. All told, suitable for just about anyone that might be interested in it.

DVD-ROM FEATURES
Placing this DVD in your DVD-ROM launches the InterActual Player with a good amount of extra material to take in. The obligatory Hotlinks to the websites for the film, Sony, and Columbia are here, as well as one to Sandler's personal site. The promised Deeds Greeting Cards, with full ability to personalize and e-mail, can be found as well. Finally, a great Screen-To-Script lets you watch the movie in the tiny window of Deeds' Pizza while reading the original screenplay in a larger window on the right side. If you have the time this can be lots of fun, as the final movie differs quite a bit from this first draft. Good stuff.

This film reviewed Sunday, October 20, 2002 in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround on the DVD format.