Funny, absurd and sentimental: Mr Deeds is one of Adam Sandler’s most underrated films

This Razzie-nominated romcom contains genuine movie magic, with Sandler delivering a restrained performance as an affable man who inherits $40bn

Adam Sandler has long been the Razzies’ punching bag. In 2012 he famously swept every category at the 32nd Golden Raspberry awards for Jack and Jill, in which Sandler plays both eponymous characters. Almost a decade earlier, at the 2003 ceremony, director Steven Brill’s Mr Deeds – starring Sandler – was nominated for worst remake or sequel. Though it ultimately lost to Guy Ritchie’s Swept Away, the nomination suggested a dim view on the film’s attempts to renovate the original – the 1936 Mr Deeds Goes to Town, directed by the indomitable, six-time Oscar-winning Frank Capra – as well as Sandler’s performance in it.

Though Mr Deeds isn’t Sandler’s most popular or critically acclaimed film, it is an endearing watch, and not so far removed from the hallowed image of Capra’s original.