Month: May 2024

Today’s quick review: Mr. Deeds. Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler), a regular guy from rural New Hampshire, becomes the most famous man in New York when he inherits $40 billion from his wealthy uncle. As Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher) pushes Deeds to sell his shares so he can break up the company, Deeds falls in love with Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder), an undercover reporter taking advantage of his small-town naivety.

Mr. Deeds is a comedy about an ordinary man who inherits a massive fortune. Faced with more money than he can spend, the adulation of the New York elite, and the scrutiny of a manipulative media, Deeds refuses to let anything change his honest, homey attitude and generous spirit. Mr. Deeds is a light take on money, love, and what really matters in life. Decent humor and a fine premise are held back by a restricted bag of comedic tricks.

Mr. Deeds has one angle that it plays up almost continuously: the contrast between Deeds’ genuine, caring personality and the selfishness of the people trying to exploit him. The dynamic works well on paper, especially when Deeds’ honesty begins to rub off on Babe, but the repetition hurts it in practice. Deeds comes off as static rather than someone who can learn and grow, and the pettiness of his enemies feels contrived.

Mr. Deeds also suffers from a particular issue where the main premise barely seems to matter. Deeds’ inheritance is a plot device that gives him the chance to interact with businessmen, reporters, and celebrities. There is very little in the way of extravagant spending, unconventional priorities, or other comedy that exploits Deeds’ wealth. Instead, Adam Sandler plies his personal style of humor with Deeds’ money vaguely in the background.

The end result is a comedy that will earn some laughs from the right viewer but which misses the opportunity to run with its premise. Mr. Deeds is a plain but amusing watch for anyone who enjoys Adam Sandler’s style of humor and classic themes of wealth versus character. But the movie only ever seems halfway interested in its premise, so a lot of its potential for both story and comedy falls by the wayside.

For another comedy about a change in station, try Trading Places. For a colorful comedy glorifying an ordinary man, try Joe Dirt. For a more eclectic comedy with Adam Sandler in a similar role, try Hubie Halloween.

[5.8 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280590/). I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for decent humor with missed potential.

Today’s quick review: Click. No matter how hard he works, Mike Newman (Adam Sandler) doesn’t have the time to both impress his boss (David Hasselhoff) and pay attention to his family, including his wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale) and their children (Joseph Castanon and Tatum McCann). But Mike gets a shot at having it all when Morty (Christopher Walken), a mysterious stranger, gives him a universal remote that can control the flow of his life.

Click is a fantasy comedy about a working father who receives a device that finally lets him balance his career and his home life. Click explores the ramifications of a truly universal remote, following Mike as he uses the device to pause, fastforward, and rewind the key moments of his life. What begins as a goofy comedy about a man exploiting his newfound power soon grows into a more meaningful story about what matters in life.

Click runs with its premise in a way that few other movies do. Mike spends the early part of the movie abusing the remote in every way possible, from skipping past predictable arguments to using the remote’s language settings to eavesdrop on his Japanese business partners. But Click soon goes even farther, showing the consequences of the remote on Mike’s work, life, and marriage as he comes to rely too much on its power.

The result is a unique hybrid: a generally silly comedy that has a backbone of meaningful speculation. Click never leaves behind its humorous roots, but it ventures into more serious territory that takes its premise to the next level. Click is not pristine or artfully constructed, but its blend of coarse humor and human themes manages to get the job done.

Many viewers will find Click a little too strange, either in terms of its humor or the farther leaps its story takes. But for those willing to take the movie on its own terms, Click is a humble yet moving story that combines breezy humor with deeper themes. Give it a shot when you are in the mood for a comedy that offers a little bit more.

For another comedy about a man gifted extraordinary powers, try Bruce Almighty. For a bittersweet drama about the course of a man’s life, try Stranger than Fiction. For a time travel comedy with even richer themes, try Groundhog Day. For a science fiction movie with a similarly retrospective tone, try Bicentennial Man. For a classic tale that deals with similar themes, try one of the adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

[6.4 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389860/). I give it a 7.0 for an original story drawn in broad but effective strokes.

Today’s quick review: Bedtime Stories. Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler), an underappreciated hotel handyman, gets in touch with his creative side when his sister Wendy (Courteney Cox) asks him to take care of her son Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit) and daughter Bobbi (Laura Ann Kesling) for the week. Skeeter entertains the children by telling them imaginative bedtime stories, only to find their events coming true in his own life.

Bedtime Stories is a family comedy adventure about a man making up stories for his niece and nephew. Adam Sandler stars as Skeeter, once promised the chance to run Barry Nottingham’s (Richard Griffiths) hotel and now reduced to running errands for Kendall (Guy Pearce), Nottingham’s favorite. Bedtime Stories injects some fantasy into Skeeter’s mundane life as the stories he makes up start to come true, giving him a way out of his predicament.

Bedtime Stories does not have a clear audience in mind. The real-world setup is geared towards adults, with a plot that involves Wendy losing her job, Skeeter trying to impress his boss, and all kinds of subtler disappointments in life. At the same time, Skeeter’s bedtime stories are clearly meant to appeal to kids, flights of fancy with minimal plot that are there to add some color and wonder to the challenges Skeeter faces in real life.

The result is a movie that never figures out what it is meant to be. The sense of magic is hobbled by the fact that Skeeter’s fantasy world serves as an outlet for his job troubles rather than standing on its own. The more realistic themes the movie tries to explore are undercut by the childlike plot logic and reliance on random events. As such, an otherwise charming premise gets lost in the noise.

Bedtime Stories works better on paper than it does in practice. Fans of Adam Sandler’s down-to-earth style of comedy will get something out of it, as will viewers who like the crossover between mundane reality and flights of fancy. But even though it has the makings of a tender, imaginative story, Bedtime Stories’ unclear vision keeps it from having the full effect it wants to.

For a family comedy with a similar setup, check out Mr. Popper’s Penguins. For a more fulfilling adventure about a daydreamer, check out The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. For a more enduring bedtime story, try The Princess Bride. For a more inventive exploration of the power of story, try The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

[6.0 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960731/). I give it a 5.5 for a charming but misplaced premise.