Mr. Deeds

Longfellow Deeds is a small-town pizzeria owner and hobby poet whose quiet life is upended when he inherits an enormous fortune from a distant relative. He leaves his hometown for the city, where wealth attracts a swarm of advisors, hangers-on, and opportunists who try to shape his every move. A tabloid TV reporter, Babe, gets assigned to profile him and pretends to be an innocent local to get closer. Their interactions mix sincerity and skepticism as Deeds' straightforward habits clash with big-city cynicism, and he tries to hold onto his principles while under intense public scrutiny.

Released in 2002, the film was directed by Steven Brill and stars Adam Sandler and Winona Ryder, with John Turturro among the supporting cast. The screenplay credits Tim Herlihy and draws on the earlier Robert Riskin and Clarence Budington Kelland material, updating the 1936 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town concept for a contemporary audience.

The movie opened wide and appealed to mainstream viewers, fitting into Adam Sandler's string of commercial comedies in the early 2000s. Its box office performance helped reinforce Sandler's status as a reliable box office draw, even as critics were mixed about the remake's tone and humor.

Culturally, Mr. Deeds stuck in the public mind as a fish-out-of-water comedy that pits small-town earnestness against tabloid sensationalism. Scenes that lampoon television journalism and the contrast between simple values and corporate greed were often referenced in discussions about celebrity culture and media ethics. The film also reinforced Sandler's screen persona, pairing his goofy likability with a sentimental moral center.

Critical reaction was divided, with many reviewers calling the movie uneven, though audiences often found Sandler's charm and the romantic subplot appealing. On user-driven platforms the film sits near the middle, with a vote average of 5.915/10 from 2,442 votes. Major themes include integrity versus greed, the influence of media, and whether kindness can hold up in a cynical world.