By Norman Miller BBC News Online

When media baron Preston Blake dies apparently childless after a crazy effort to scale Everest, the search is on to discover an heir to his vast fortune and corporate empire.

The unexpected recipient turns out to be naive but thoroughly decent small town pizzeria owner - and abysmal greetings card "poet" - Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler).

Whisked away from the warmth of the folks in Mandrake Falls he finds himself dropped into the den of iniquity that is New York City.

However, he soon becomes the target of a host of slick city operators keen to cash in on his innocence.

While it may have seemed a great idea to update Frank Capra's much-loved 30s classic Mr Deeds Goes To Town, this is a disastrous attempt at doing it.

Gary Cooper's naivety in the original had a charm almost totally lacking in Adam Sandler's tacky reprise in which grossness and stupidity replace wit, and hammy sleaze merchants take over from the bad guys in Capra's movie.

Winona Ryder stars as a journalist

Much of the fault lies with the script - by one Clarence Budington Kelland - which gives its cast little to work with.

Redeeming features

In fact, it is difficult to find any redeeming features - though Sandler's box office success suggests there are plenty of people keen to lap up this pap.

And the presence of Winona Ryder, who has shot back into the limelight on account of her shoplifting trial, will undoubtedly draw audiences.

As nasty reporter "Babe" Bennett, she is one of the film's few saving graces, showing glimpses of her acting skill as her heart changes and she begins to fall under the spell of Deeds' honesty and decency.

Sometimes a lousy film benefits from a sprinkling of class acts but why on earth John Turturro (as Deed's Hispanic valet) and Steve Buscemi (as a cross-eyed buffoon) signed up for this tat God only knows.

Sandler is teaming up with Jack Nicholson for his next effort, the forthcoming Anger Management. One can only hope it's better than this.