Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Good concept, poorly executed.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Director: FRANK CAPRA. Screenplay: Robert Riskin. Based on the story, "Opera Hat", by Clarence Budington Kelland. Photography: Joseph Walker. Film editor: Gene Havlick. Art director: Stephen Goosson. Costumes: Samuel Lange. Music director: Howard Jackson. Special photographic effects: E. Roy Davidson. Stills: Howard Lippman. Assistant director: C. C. Coleman. Sound recording: Edward L. Bernds. Producer: Frank Capra.Copyright 8 April 1936 by Columbia Pictures Corp. of California, Ltd. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall, 16 April 1936 (ran 2 weeks). U.K. release: August 1936. Australian release: 22 July 1936. 12 reels. 115 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Millionaire proves that despite his resolution to give all his money away, he is actually perfectly sane.NOTES: Academy Award, Best Director, Frank Capra (defeating Gregory La Cava's My Man Godfrey, Robert Z. Leonard's The Great Ziegfeld, W. S. Van Dyke's San Francisco and William Wyler's Dodsworth).Also nominated for Best Picture (The Great Ziegfeld); Best Actor, Gary Cooper (Paul Muni in The Story of Louis Pasteur); Screenplay (The Story of Louis Pasteur); Sound Recording.Best Motion Picture of 1936 — New York Film Critics. Best American Film of 1936 — National Board of Review. 2nd Best Picture of 1936 (Mutiny on the Bounty was first) — The Film Daily annual poll of U.S. film critics.COMMENT: Although it has some marvelously amusing scenes and some wonderful set-pieces, this Depression-era comedy is a trifle dated to-day. As usual, Capra is unable to bring himself to cut into a lot of the dull, moralizing dialogue between his hero and heroine. This is a real pity. With a bit of judicious trimming, Mr. Deeds would be a very amusing fellow: a philanthropist with a heart of originality and a slyly inverted sense of humor.The acting, as usual, under Capra's skillful direction, is both faultless and ingratiating. In fact, all the technical craftsmanship (aside, of course, from the script's slow passages), could be rated as impeccable.

These Capra films must have been spirit risers in the depression. It involves a simple man who inherits an enormous amount of money, twenty million dollars. He has always lived in a laid back world where little is demanded of him. He plays his tuba and writes greeting cards to make a living. He goes to the big city because he needs to in order to settle the estate. It doesn't take long before the vultures are swooping down on him. One man in particularly wants to take his money and pay off debts that he has incurred. Deeds is much smarter than the hayseed he appears to be. He manages fine on his common sense, but Jean Arthur, a reporter shows up, and suddenly he is taken with her. She is wise to the world and he must stay on his toes. This is a sweet movie with Cooper as unforgettable, sinking into the realities of the city and bobbing up again. Frank Capra was a real treasure.

I should confess before writing this review. Haven't I seen this movie before, I wouldn't be able to point out most handsome actor in Hollywood ever. Yes, Gary Cooper is one of the most handsome actors I've seen. He delivers his skills with effervescent and attractive face emotions that anyone could fall in love with. Now, the story revolves around some pixilated guy who has so charming skills to talk with people that anyone can easily get attracted to his simplicity, soberness and faithfulness. A guy who's been living in a small town with not much of important aspects ever faced has to move to the town and face modern societal structure and its aftermath. Now, one important message this film tries to share is-"However smart, sharp or deceit a town can be, a person who has everything good in him, everything elegant in him, can never be affected in a bad way until he himself tries to degrade him."Frank Capra has taken so lively, so real, so effective issue in 1930s,that is still applicable to this 21st century. A guy who sounds simple, looks simple does one pixilated thing that looks a psychologically mad thing to others. But in real, that only thing helps him to be brave, neat and adroit to solve one in a million case of deceit against him. That proves that however a bad state is revolving around anyone, if you stay simple, be free from wrongs, you can easily down the impossible against you. Coming to the movie, Gary Cooper is simply super. He has shown how a simple actor can manage a whole movie without any high-class techniques. Jean Arthur is cute as well as compelling. She delivers the most than she is expected of. Worth seeing an actress in a movie which requires a punchy role and also delivers the same without forcing too much. She was just natural into the frames. Director Frank Capra should be praised for bringing out most real issue on the screens to depict the reality of big cities and how easily one can live to the most. As simple as it is, this movie remains one of the most charming and funny movie of 1930's. The courtroom drama is shown well enough and humor is added rightly to make the audience engaged to get the required message in an enchanting way. With few of its flaws in the first half in acting and technical aspects, this remains one of a gem.

Well, I'll go ahead and admit it, I used to have a soft spot for Adam Sandler's remake in 2002. It was amusing at the time and an introduction to a few good things like Steve Buscemi and John Turturro. I didn't realize how close it was to Frank Capra's original, nearly 70 years earlier, in all the near trivial detail. It's A Wonderful Life is enough for me to call myself a Capra fan, and his sense of feel-good storytelling is ideal for this timeless small town boy in the big city story. While Mr. Deeds Goes To Town does still have its dated parts, particularly in the camera choices, stage like sets and strange reactions (either under reactions or over reactions), the great script ties it all together. Gary Cooper can be more stoic than his role requires but his chemistry with Jean Arthur makes it all worth it. But what makes the film truly interesting is the final points on mental illness and the reaction to carelessly throwing the labels around. Now it appears to be the fashion, it's interesting to see this debated nearly 80 years ago. And its final points on what people do when they think makes the film all the more human and all the more timeless.8/10