Mr. Deeds

Is idiot-savant Adam Sandler making a break for the legit? Will doe-eyed Winona Ryder buck her teen-angst past for a leading-lady future? No such answers exist in Mr. Deeds, a stereotype-strewn retelling of Frank Capra’s ”Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936) from director Steven Brill (”Little Nicky”) and longtime Sandler scribe Tim Herlihy. As Longfellow Deeds, a small-town hero who’s revealed as the heir to a $40 billion media conglomerate, Sandler panders with his trademark guffaws, while back-story-less Ryder — playing the cynical, big-city reporter out to scoop Deeds — is tabloid-thin. ”Deeds”’ middling mix of slap-shtick and feel-good makes for te-D-um.