Mr Deeds

Longfellow Deeds (Sandler) is a very lucky man. When we first meet him, he doesn't know it but he's the heir to an elderly sillionaire who recetly froze to death while climbing Everest. When Mr Deeds goes to town, he does so in style: he's just inherited $40 billion.

Of course, Longfellow is an innocent, naive guy, and unlike the rest of us, doesn't really want the money and has no idea what he's going to do with it. Cedar (Gallagher) knows exactly what's going to happen to the money: Deeds is going to loose it and Cedar is going to be super-filthy-super-rolling-in-it-rich. Also with designs on Deeds is Babe (Ryder), a trash TV show hostess who plans to make him fall in love with her and humiliate him. We know, of course, that in the end, Cedar will get his comeuppance and babe will realise that she loves Longfellow just in time for everybody to live happily ever after.

There is no great acting in mr Deeds. There is no inspired plot, because we've all seen The Hudsucker Proxy, and spent afternoons when we were meant to be writing essays watching Brewster's Millions. But Mr Deeds plays SandlerÕs zany charm to the hilt, and it works. Even the most devoted hater of Adam Sandler will get laughs out of Mr Deeds.

This is a remake of an excellent Frank Capra film, Mr Deeds Goes to Town, from 1936. Classic film fans might scream their outrage, but there is no doubting that Mr Deeds is very good at what it does: deadpan kooky humour with an occasional toilet humour gag thrown in just to make sure of those belly laughs that mean good box office. Mr Deeds isn't clever, but it is big, and it is most definitely funny.

Sarah Charing