A ‘Deeds’ to riches story!

Adam Sandler	Winona Ryder	Peter Gallagher	Jared Harris
Erick Avari	John Turturro	Harve Presnell	Conchata Ferrell
Peter Dante	JB Smoove.	Directed by Steven Brill
Executive Producers: Adam Sandler, Joseph M Caracciolo

For those who have seen the 1936 Frank Capra classic Mr Deeds Goes to Town (I haven’t) starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur, your first thought will be of the Cooper vs. Sandler comparison in this recent adaptation of the original.

Director Steven Brill describes Mr Deeds as a “loose adaptation”, but think of the inimitable Gary Cooper as Deeds and it must be difficult to picture anyone else in the role. Be that as it may, let’s come back to the present and the modern day Deeds.

Longfellow Deeds or Deeds, as he insists on being called, is uprooted from little known Mandrake Falls in New Hampshire to New York thanks to the $40 billion-legacy of a great uncle he never knew he had. The popular owner of the town’s only pizza parlour, Deeds’ days had revolved around a Good Samaritan existence and above all, penning poems which he sends to Hallmark in the fond hope that they will some day be accepted.

It is then that luck comes calling in the form of Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher), a slick corporate moghul and his crony Anderson (Erick Avari), bearing the news that his late uncle Preston Blake (Harve Presnell) has left him a $40 billion empire comprising a chain of media outlets and a football and basketball team.

The Blake helicopter is ready to whisk Deeds off, and after a warm sendoff by the townsfolk he is on his way to fame - his shop is in the safe hands of trusted employee (Conchata Ferrell). Drinking in the sight of the Park Avenue palatial splendour that is now rightfully his, the little town guy is all camaraderie and hugs his stunned butler Emelio (John Turturro) and his array of servants. Shouting to hear the echo in the huge halls, he leaves behind a bemused staff as he retires to his room.

The big guns at Blake Enterprises are all agog to have the poor little rich guy off their hands, with Cedar conniving to buy out the company, break it up and sell it. Deeds, unaware of the plot that will render thousands jobless, is specifically told to stay clear of the media. The newshounds have other ideas.

Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder), tabloid TV producer of ‘Inside Access’ is out to get the scoop on Deeds. Posing as a small town girl from Iowa, Ryder passes herself off as Pam Dawson, a school nurse. She teams up with her Inside Access boss, Mac McGrath (Jared Harris), but their plans go awry when Deeds, instead of rescuing the ‘victim’, rushes off after ‘mugger’ McGrath and punches the daylights out of him.

Deeds picks up courage to ask her out and from then on the two are constantly together. While his personal life in the big city has looked up, he is at a loss with the ways of the moneyed. Till he realises he has been tricked. At the office and by Dawson, whose true identity he learns. The papers are ready to be signed, says Chuck and with that the hero will be off home again. After giving corporate America a lesson that money cannot change everyone, of course.

But what will he do with his $40 billion? Give it away to charity! Following Anderson’s suggestion, the beneficiary is chosen. Then comes the twist in the tale. A revelation at the shareholders’ meeting called by Chuck changes things. So, where does that leave the multi-billionaire? That’s not for me to reveal.

Still, Sandler does not call all the shots in this rags-to-riches story. Butler Emilio, with his toothy smile and Spanish-accented English, draws more laughs as he sneaks in on his boss. And as Winona Ryder herself said of her part, in a romantic comedy the role is not often great for a female character. However, in this one, it is not just a vehicle for the guy. Despite the predictable storyline, a likeable film.