Mr. Deeds

Mr. Deeds is a 2002 American comedy film directed by Steven Brill, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Sid Ganis and Jack Giarraputo. It stars Adam Sandler in the title role, alongside Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, Jared Harris, Allen Covert, Erick Avari, and John Turturro. The film is a remake of the 1936 Frank Capra film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, which itself was based on the 1935 short story "Opera Hat" by Clarence Budington Kelland. It tells the story of a pizzeria owner who learns that he is the heir of a late multi-billionaire as he also meets a television reporter wanting a story on him.

Produced by Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions in association with New Line Cinema and Out of the Blue... Entertainment, Mr. Deeds was released in the United States by Columbia Pictures on June 28, 2002. The film received negative reviews.

Plot
While on vacation, billionaire Preston Blake, owner of Blake Media, freezes to death while climbing Mount Everest. During the ensuing media circus, Blake's board of directors, led by the greedy Chuck Cedar, discover his closest-living-relative is a great-nephew named Longfellow Deeds. Deeds is a kind-hearted and fiercely protective man who runs a pizzeria in Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire with his friend Jan, and writes greeting cards in hopes that they might be accepted by Hallmark.

Deeds is flown to New York City by Cedar. He meets various Blake staff-members, including well-meaning general counsel Cecil Anderson, along with Blake's loyal longtime butler Emilio Lopez; both take a quick liking to Deeds, with Emilio treating him as a confidant. Plans are made for Deeds to sell his shares in the company for $40 billion, though he must remain in New York while the legal details are worked out. Cedar quickly grows to despise Deeds, and secretly wants to break up Blake Media for his own benefit.

Television tabloid reporter Babe Bennett, wanting in on the story, invents the false persona of "Pam Dawson" to get close to Deeds. She has her lecherous co-worker Marty pretend to steal her purse in front of Deeds so he can "save her." (Though unfortunately, Deeds pummels Marty senseless in the process.) Deed is immediately smitten with Babe, who clumsily claims to be a school nurse from the fictional town of "Winchestertonfieldville, Iowa." Though initially only interested in the story, Babe eventually falls for the soft-hearted Deeds, who writes her a poem, and even manages to find a real "Winchestertonfieldville, Iowa" that he takes her to on a surprise trip.

Marty gives Cedar a tip-off on Babe's true identity. During a dinner date at Madison Square Garden, the truth is revealed about Babe's deception. Heartbroken, Deeds decides to return home to Mandrake Falls. He's assured that the company will stay open in Blake's honor, and asks to donate his $40 billion. However, he later learns from his mentally-unstable friend "Crazy Eyes" that Cedar intends to sell the company, which will cause thousands of employees to lose their jobs.

Babe follows Deeds to Mandrake Falls to win him back. Babe asks Jan where Deeds might be, but Jan refuses, furious at Babe for hurting her friend. The two get into an enormous brawl in the pizzeria before Jan finally gives in. However, while approaching Deeds, Babe falls through the ice of a frozen lake and nearly drowns. Deeds hears her cries and saves her a second time, breaking the ice with his foot, which was rendered rock-hard from a frostbite injury years early. Despite Babe's pleas for forgiveness, he rejects her, still hurt by her betrayal, and she sadly returns to New York alone.

At a shareholders' meeting, Cedar persuades everyone to sell the company until Deeds, who has bought a single share, arrives. Deeds appeals to all of the shareholders to do the right thing and convinces them to change their minds. However, Cedar controls a majority of the shares and the sale is approved regardless. Babe suddenly arrives after having studied Blake's diary and learning the truth- forty years earlier, Blake had an affair with his maid Consuela Lopez, Emilio's late mother, who became pregnant and later died from complications during childbirth. Thus, Emilio is Blake's illegitimate son and true heir to his fortune and majority stake in the company.

Emilio immediately takes control of Blake Media and fires Cedar and other corrupt board members, though he allows Cecil to stay on board due to his good nature. Emilio thanks Deeds for his friendship and support, before offering him part of the fortune as a farewell gift. Deeds and Babe reconcile and return to Mandrake Falls, where Babe now works alongside Deeds and Jan at the Pizzeria. The poem he wrote for her is accepted by Hallmark and becomes a popular greeting card. He has also used some of his money to buy Chevrolet sports cars for everyone in Mandrake Falls... though "Crazy Eyes" immediately crashes his.

Cast

 * Adam Sandler as Longfellow Deeds, Preston Blake's great-nephew, a friendly, helpful owner of a small-town pizzeria who also writes greeting cards, who inherited a billion-dollar empire from his late great-uncle.
 * Winona Ryder as Babe Bennett, a reporter for the tabloid television show Inside Access who disguises herself as Pam Dawson, a school nurse, to get close to and gather information on Deeds.
 * Peter Gallagher as Chuck Cedar, the CEO for Blake Media and Preston Blake's longtime number two who plots to seize control of Blake Media so he can make a huge profit selling it.
 * Jared Harris as Mac McGrath, the dishonest Australian head of Inside Access, who reports on Deeds' antics in New York, often misrepresenting Deeds in a negative light.
 * Allen Covert as Marty, a junior reporter for Inside Access, infatuated with and a cohort of Babe, appearing in several disguises to spy on Deeds.
 * Erick Avari as Cecil Anderson, the general counsel for Blake Media.
 * John Turturro as Emilio Lopez, Preston Blake's long-serving butler and illegitimate son (therefore Deeds' long-lost cousin and the true heir to Blake Media). He has a habit of sneaking up on people unexpectedly and he also has a foot fetish which also explains why Preston does not let him change his socks.
 * Peter Dante as Murph, one of Deeds' friends who works at his pizzeria.
 * Conchata Ferrell as Jan, a close friend of Deeds who works in the pizzeria and is a retired rodeo clown.
 * Harve Presnell as Preston Blake, the billionaire founder and Chairman of Blake Media who freezes to death at the top of Mount Everest.
 * J.B. Smoove as Reuben
 * Steve Buscemi as Crazy Eyes, a citizen of Mandrake Falls and one of Deeds' customers who suffers from severe amblyopia.
 * Brandon Molale as Kevin Ward, the New York Jets quarterback.
 * Blake Clark as Buddy Ward, Kevin Ward's father.
 * John McEnroe as himself.
 * Craig Castaldo as a fictional version of himself who is a homeless man living in Central Park.
 * Jennifer Tisdale as a Card Reader.
 * Al Sharpton as himself; he presides over Preston Blake's funeral.
 * Walter Williamson as Kurt, a singer at the Metropolitan Opera.
 * Roark Critchlow as William.
 * Billy St. John as George.
 * George Wallace as a UNCF administrator.
 * Alfred Dennis as Old Timer.
 * Aloma Wright as Coretta Keeling.
 * Nancy Arsenault as French investor.
 * Barbara Arsenault as French investor.
 * Rob Schneider as Nazo (uncredited), a food delivery man who was previously seen in Big Daddy and appears in two brief scenes where he catches one of the cats that Deeds saves from a burning building and later reads one of Deeds' cards to it.

Production
The producers were looking for a small, "old-fashioned, New England-type" town close to New York, when they serendipitously discovered New Milford, Connecticut, and, upon having lunch there at "The Bistro Cafe", decided the town would be the perfect choice to portray the fictional home-town of Deeds, Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire, and that the cafe was a great location to use as "'Deeds' Pizza" restaurant. Some scenes were also shot in Carmel, New York. Several sequences were filmed in New York City around Spring 2001. Following the September 11th, 2001 attacks, images of the World Trade Center towers were digitally removed from several shots of New York City. The Blake Media Hotel scenes were shot in Beverly Hills, California. The scene where Longfellow Deeds and Chuck Cedar are playing tennis at the tennis court was filmed at Roosevelt Island, New York.

Home media
Mr. Deeds was released on DVD and VHS on October 22, 2002.

Critical response
Mr. Deeds received mainly negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 22% based on reviews from 153 critics, with an average rating score of 4.20/10. Its consensus states: "This update of Capra doesn't hold a candle to the original, and even on its own merits, Mr. Deeds is still indifferently acted and stale."

Mr. Deeds received three Razzie Award nominations including Worst Actor (Adam Sandler), Worst Actress (Winona Ryder) and Worst Remake or Sequel. However, the film also won a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor (Sandler).

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
Though critically panned, the film was a major financial success. Box office:


 * United States: US$126,293,452
 * International: US$44,976,083
 * Gross worldwide: US$171,269,535

Accolades
The film won and was nominated for a number of awards throughout 2002-2003.