Mr. Deeds
historyMr. Deeds is a 2002 comedy film starring Adam Sandler and Winona Ryder, and is a remake of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The movie also features Peter Gallagher, John Turturro and Steve Buscemi, with small roles by John McEnroe and Al Sharpton and a brief, uncredited appearance by Rob Schneider.
The film was distributed by both Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema.
Preston Blake started out in his career hoping to be a television broadcaster as a young man, slowly working his way up through the ranks to found Blake Media, a corporation running hundreds of television and radio stations and with tens of thousands of employees. After Blake freezes to death at the summit of Mount Everest with a triumphant smile on his face, a search for his heir begins. When it is found that he has a living nephew named Longfellow Deeds who runs a pizzeria in New Hampshire, Deeds is contacted and brought to New York City by oily attorney Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher).
Plans are made for Deeds to sell his shares in the company to Cedar and return home $40 billion richer, but he must remain in New York for a few days as all the legal details are worked out.
The story is major news, and reporter Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder), who works for a tabloid show called Inside Access, has a friend pretend to steal her purse in sight of Deeds. Deeds "rescues" her and she continues to go out with him under the disguise of Pam Dawson, a school nurse from Winchestertonfieldville, Iowa (a town she made up on the spot when asked where she was from, which later turns out to be real). Though Babe/Pam initially hopes to just get a good story on the new heir, she eventually falls for the unfailingly kind-hearted Deeds, and decides to tell him that she's not who she says she is, but Inside Access reveals it to Deeds first. Heartbroken, Deeds decides to return home to Mandrake Falls after giving all the money he inherits to the United Negro College Fund, a move which could cost all his employees their jobs.
Babe visits Deeds in Mandrake Falls and tries to win him back. He rejects her saying he doesn't really know who she is.
At a shareholders meeting, Cedar has everyone convinced to sell the company, until Deeds (who has bought a single share) arrives and manages to convince everyone to not sell. But Cedar has control of a majority of the shares and the sale is approved. Babe arrives then, and reveals that Blake's butler, Emilio (John Turturro), is Preston Blake's illegitimate son, Deeds' older cousin, and the true heir, as his mother, then Preston's housekeeper, had a one-night stand with him, presumably resulting in their son's birth. This makes sense, as Emilio mentions that his mother died while giving birth, and Preston never mentioned about his real father during the forty years he lived there.
As Emilio is the true heir, Deeds' sale of his shares to Cedar is not legal. Emilio immediately takes control and fires Cedar, among others. Babe reveals herself to Deeds and apologizes for tricking him, and they reconcile. As they're leaving, Emilio gives Deeds a billion dollars, some of which Deeds spends on buying his friends a few dozen Corvettes, and he returns to Mandrake Falls with Babe, where he learns that Hallmark Cards has bought one of his cards, the one he wrote for Babe.
Cast
{| class="wikitable"
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! Actor/Actress
! Character
! Notes
|-
| Adam Sandler
| Longfellow Deeds
|
|-
| Winona Ryder
| Babe Bennet/Pam Dawson
|
|-
| John Turturro
| Emilio Lopez
|
|-
| Allen Covert
| Marty
|
|-
| Peter Gallagher
| Chuck Cedar
|
|-
| Jared Harris
| Mac McGrath
|
|-
| Erick Avari
| Cecil Anderson
|
|-
| Rob Schneider
| Nazo, the Italian Delivery Man
| uncredited
|-
| Peter Dante
| Murph
|
|-
| Conchata Ferrell
| Jan
|
|-
| Harve Presnell
| Preston Blake
|
|-
| Steve Buscemi
| Crazy Eyes
|
|-
| Blake Clark
| Buddy Ward, the Quarterback's Dad
|
|-
| John McEnroe
| Himself
|
|-
| Brandon Molale
| Kevin Ward, the N.Y. Jets Quarterback
|
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable"
The film received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a rating of 22% based on 152 reviews, with 33 of the reviews being positive. On Yahoo! Movies, it was graded a C from critics and a B- from users.
|- ! Region ! Gross |- | Gross Domestic Takings | US$126,293,453 |- | Other International Takings | US$44,976,084 |- | Gross Worldwide Takings | US$171,269,537 |}