|
 Movie
B+ |
Video A- | Audio A-
| Extras A-
Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, Jared
Harris, Allen Covert, Erick Avari, and John Turturro
director Steven Brill | Columbia-TriStar Home Entertainment
2002 | Romance - Comedy | PG-13 | 97 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio
| Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: In this remake of the classic Mr.
Deeds Goes to Town, Adam Sandler is Longfellow Deeds, a small-town
businessman who runs a pizza parlor and makes an honest living. His
life is would be perfect only if he has someone special to share it with
(a minor detail  ).
Although he has no girlfriend/wife, or family members, he is well-loved in
his little town of Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire. The townspeople
love it when he recites his latest greeting card design, a part-time hobby
of his.
One day, the media giant Preston Blake dies while
climbing to the peak of Mt. Everest. As luck would have it,
Longfellow turns out to be the Blake's long lost nephew. When
officers from Blake's company come to Mandrake Falls and tell Longfellow
that he had just inherited a $40 billion empire, Longfellow seems unmoved
by the financial windfall. In fact, it took some convincing to get
Longfellow to come to New York City to settle his uncle's estate. As
he stays at his late uncle's New York apartment, he befriends the head
butler, who is quite a strange and mysterious character. Longfellow
is staked out by a beautiful tabloid journalist (Winona Ryder) who is out
to discover and exploit Longfellow's quirkiness for the sake of viewer
ratings. Would Longfellow be able to spot the exploitive plans of
those around him before he loses his financial windfall and leave the fate
of his uncle's empire to the greedy company officers? Well,
Longfellow may be a simple small-town businessman, but his
straight-shooting business ethics and good nature helps him steer clear of
the treacherous world of international business and its high-power
politics.
Adam Sandler plays Mr. Deeds perfectly. This
is Sandler's best performance since Big Daddy. As a romantic
comedy, I thoroughly enjoyed the belly-aching slapstick humor and bought
into Sandler's portrayal of Mr. Deed's dry but bitterly honest approach to
love as he falls head over heals with the manipulative journalist, played
by the lovely Winona Ryder. Finally, the DVD is available with both
widescreen and full screen. And either version comes with a rich set
of bonus features.
Special Features: commentary with director
and writer; deleted scenes (6 scenes); outtakes reel; "Clothes Make
the Man" featurette; "From Mandrake Falls to Manhattan"
featurette; Dee's "Spare No Expense" featurette; Greeting Cards
(6 funny greeting cards, read by Adam Sandler); music video "Where
Are You Going" by Dave Matthews Band; theatrical trailers; and
DVD-ROM features (script-to-screen and weblinks)
DVD released on 10/22/2002 | Reviewed 11/24/2002
List $27.96 | online $19.99 | order from Amazon.com,
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
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Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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