Mr. Deeds

Year: 2002

Grade: C+

Country: USA

Director: Brill

Review

well i’ve finally seen the movie that is often referred to as the best of all-time. undoubtedly a fine example of cinematic mastery, but that doesn’t mean much without injecting some humanity into the picture. having watched this only one time i don’t think i’ll be able to say anything that hasn’t already been said about this film so i’ll just tell you what i thought…mifune’s performance was spectacular. i know i’m a late bloomer, but kurosawa and mifune are rapidly climbing the ranks in my book. he really is a master actor. seeing the magnificent seven right after i saw this gave me a good dose of perspective…sure seven samurai is an hour and a half longer than the magnificent seven, but so much more is done in that time. though, kurosawa doesn’t really need very much time to characterize a person or place (think the opening scene of yojimbo with the dog walking through the town holding a human hand in its jaw…one picture worth literally a thousand words) because he’s that good. at any rate the 3.5 hours was far more gratifying and fulfilling than the 2 hours that the magnificent seven offered. the samurai are so much harder, likable, and heroic than the gunmen in the magnificent seven. i couldn’t help but think that these guys were the ultimate badasses throughout the film…at the same time they were more human than we typically expect our heroes to be. i’ll need to see this movie again in the near future.