HOLLYWOOD - Was there a better way for Adam Sandler to put behind him the hellish disaster that was Little Nicky than to give Frank Capra's Oscar-winning comedy Mr. Deeds Goes to Town a 21st-century makeover?Probably not.
Critics will tear Sandler to shreds for bastardizing such a beloved classic, but audiences won't care. The majority of the former SNLers devotees doubtless know anything about Capra or his legendary body of work. All they want to see is Sandler slide down banisters, belittle shallow corporate bigwigs and rough up anyone who mortally offends him. To this end, Sandler doesn't disappoint, so expect Mr. Deeds to more than double the disappointing $39.4 million that Little Nicky could only muster.
Mr. Deeds finds Sandler's eponymous small-town nice guy whisked off to New York City after he inherits a media empire worth a measly $40 billion. While financial officers plot to wrestle control of the company, Sandler loses his heart--but none of his valuables--to Winona Ryder, an undercover TV tabloid reporter out to get the dirt on the Big Apple's newest mover and shaker.
Audiences just want Sandler to be Sandler. Little Nicky was Sandler's Cable Guy mostly on the strength of the infantile voice and creepy look that he adopted as the son of Satan.
Thus Longfellow Deeds is a classic Sandler man-child underdog. He's as much a goofball as Billy Madison, only with a better work ethic. He's just tender as The Waterboy, but he's lousy when it comes to wooing women, a la The Wedding Singer. He throws a punch harder than Happy Gilmore.
This should find Sandler in good graces with audiences who turned out in droves to see Big Daddy ($164.3 million) and The Waterboy ($161.4 million) but stayed away from Little Nicky.
Sandler's cooled off since achieving those back-to-back hits in 1998 and 1999, so Mr. Deeds won't open on the scale of Big Daddy's $41.5 million or The Waterboy's $39.4 million. Instead, Mr. Deeds should top the The Wedding Singer's $21.9 million's opening by about $5 million.
Mr. Deeds, however, will do no better than The Wedding Singer's $80.2 million for the simple reason that everyone, with the notable exception of Ryder, is funnier than the somewhat subdued Sandler. Co-stars John Turturro and Steve Buscemi steal the show. Rob Schneider's obligatory cameo also earns more snickers than Sandler provides in 90 minutes.
Also, sparks fail to fly between Sandler and Ryder, who reveals amazingly little comic aptitude in Mr. Deeds. Ryder's ongoing legal woes will lure curiosity seekers to Mr. Deeds, but her presence will disappoint those who enjoyed Sandler's efforts to romance Drew Barrymore in The Wedding Singer.
To matters worse, Mr. Deeds distributor Sony Picture will release Men in Black II next week. That long-awaited sequel will doubtless siphon away the same audience of young adults that it shares with Mr. Deeds.
Mr. Deeds should add some shine to Sandler's tarnished star appeal, but he may have to wait until he spars with Jack Nicholson in next year's Anger Management before enjoying another runaway smash.
