Little Nicky

Ever hear of a movie that is suppose to be the extreme of one sort or another that doesn't live up to its billing? Little Nicky is one of those films. Roasted upon its release as one of the worst films of all time Little Nicky turns out to be an okay comedy. Actually this is the kind of movie that has all of the ingredients to be a screamingly funny comedy, but somehow things don't work.

Nicky, the son of the devil and an angel is sent to make his way in the world while one of his many brothers tries to take throne of Hell from their father. Casting everyone from Harvey Keitel to Rodney Dangerfield this is a film that fits into the Adam Sandler universe since several characters from some of his other films appear. Its a film that on star power alone should work, but it never catches fire. Sure there are laughs but on the whole nothing ever hangs together to form a full movie. I've seen the film several times and can't figure out what went wrong. Even Adam Sandler as Nicky, in one of the worst portrayals in screen history, isn't the reason this doesn't work. There is something else, some other reason.

Still its worth seeing if you like okay comedies. It never scales the heights its ideas and bits say it should be reaching. If its on try it and see if its for you, you certainly could do worse.

I must be missing something here. I was under the impression that this was some kind of comedy. Evidently not. Oh well, at least there are a raft of top class actors and comedians queuing up for cameos and supporting roles – maybe they will be able to inject some class into proceedings. Nothing doing there either, I'm afraid.

This is rubbish. Thoughtless, childish pap that adds considerable credence to the notion that Adam Sandler is as overrated as he is irritating. It is a sad state of affairs when filmmakers believe they can simply unleash this goofy, rubber-faced moron on a trusting and frankly deluded public and gleefully scoop up gazillions of dollars in takings. But why wouldn't they think that? Sandler is a veritable Box Office cash cow.

This has been a mystery to me for years. Sandler is a comedian who (in his films at least) HAS NO GAGS! Not only does he not do jokes, but his physical comedy is pretty ordinary too. His success is based purely on the pathos generated by the losers he plays. The man is obviously no mug. He has worked out that producers are falling over themselves to offer him twenty million bucks a throw to fall over a couple of times and wear bad 1980s clothing. Nice work if you can get it.

I will grudgingly give him The Wedding Singer where he fortuitously stumbled on some decent chemistry with Drew Barrymore, but aside from that his movies are generally overly sentimental and woefully short on substance.

Little Nicky is another opportunity to build a weak, convoluted story around one of Sandler's lovable schmucks. Well they got it half right. His eponymous 'hero' (and I use the term in its loosest possible sense) is certainly a schmuck, but he is about as lovable as herpes.

Nicky is the youngest son of the Devil (Harvey Keitel. Really.). When Dad reaches pensionable age (10,000 years in this case), he is supposed to retire and hand over the reins to an heir. Not believing any of his diabolical offspring suitable for the job, he decides to stay in charge himself. This incenses his other two sons (Rhys Ifans and Tom Lister Jr) and they decide to snub life in Hades in favour of running riot up on Earth. Their departure freezes over the gates of Hell and begins to physically debilitate old Satan. If parity cannot be restored and the naughty boys returned down below, Harvey is in serious danger of disappearing into thin air (which, it strikes me, would actually be a blessing).

Anyway, sweet-natured, not-evil-enough-to-rule, Earth-virgin Nicky is dispatched up to retrieve his errant brothers. With hilarious consequences, obviously. Well, I guess that's the theory.

But the expected barrage of fish-out-of-water stereotypes never materialises. Instead, there are a series of bizarre, contrived scenes many of which centre around the toilet habits of an annoying talking dog.

The biggest problem (and there are many) is Sandler. His previous characters may have been absurdly insipid and one-dimensional, but at least he injected them with a modicum of warmth. A thirty-four year old man shuffling about in a duffel coat and trying to portray a blushing adolescent is more frightening than cute. He is severely hindered by an appalling nasal whine that may have sounded amusing on a thirty second Saturday Night Live skit, but begins to grate when affected for the entire duration of a ninety-minute feature. He sounds like a cross between a hood on the Sopranos and Muttley out of the Wacky Races. In short, the character is decidedly unlovely, borderline creepy and, most importantly, relentlessly unfunny.

No supporting cast can sustain a lead like that. Keitel, Rodney Dangerfield, Quentin Tarantino, Patricia Arquette and Reese Witherspoon (as a Clueless-cliché angel) do not disgrace themselves but won't see this as their finest hour. Ifans at least looks like he's approached the project with his tongue firmly in his cheek. His perpetual look of amused bewilderment almost made me smile. Almost.

Dreadful.

4/10

Little Nicky (2000) Adam Sandler, Patricia Arquette, Harvey Keitel, Rhys Ifans, Tom ‘Tiny' Lister Jr., Rodney Dangerfield, Allen Covert, Peter Dante, Quentin Tarantino, Reese Witherspoon, Dana Carvey, Michael McKean, Ozzy Osbourne, D: Steven Brill. As Satan nears retirement, he'll hand over the task to rule Hell to one of his three sons. But when two of them leave Hell, the damned souls come in, and thereby the devil starts to die. So his only hope is to send off his `good son' Nicky, who has no evil in him whatsoever, to The Big Apple to bring back his brothers-who are wreaking the city. Uproarious and predictable, this juvenile comedy has a lot of sexually crude and awkwardly weird gags, and near the end, it gets sentimental. Though some of the actors appear in funny roles, especially Keitel as Satan, you'll get bored hearing Sandler doing another one of his speech impediment tricks. Written by Sandler. Running Time: 93 minutes and rated PG-13 for crude humor, sexual situations, language, drug use. * ½

When I first watched this movie, I was cracking up! And it was one of those incidents in which I was in a crowded theater where I was pretty much the ONLY one laughing at most of the gags! It wasn't exactly embarrassing, but kind of weird. Then again, most of the people that came to see it were mothers and fathers with little children. Please ignore the PG-13 rating--this is NOT a movie for the young ones! I think anyone who has seen Sandler's previous films should know that by now. His sense of humor may be immature, but that doesn't mean it's appropriate for little eyes to see.

I watched this movie again, after I bought the DVD. First of all, I was impressed to discover the cool Easter eggs! It's actually the first DVD to be presented in InfiniFilm. But since it was used as an Easter egg, it wasn't credited as the first InfiniFilm feature. Well, as I learned a lot more about the behind-the-scenes work on this movie; mostly involving special effects, makeup, costume and set design; I gained a better respect for those who were responsible for making "Little Nicky." I thought of it as more than a shallow comedy. It's obvious that the producers of Sandler's previous films didn't have to bend over backwards to produce any flashy effects--in fact, most of them were made on a modest budget.

However, the laughs faded away a little. Since this is a silly, superficial comedy, don't expect to pick up on any subtle humor that you might've missed the first time around. I always found Sandler's schtick very silly and meaningless. But he's one of those guys who can make me laugh at things for no apparent reason. Almost as if I'm laughing AT him. I've seen "Billy Madison" countless times and I still roll with laughter every time. But with "Little Nicky" most of the jokes that I found silly-funny on my initial viewing were just silly on my second.

One thing to anticipate is a stellar cast. You'll be surprised at the kind of celebrities that pop up in the cameos. Some of the big-name stars include Harvey Keitel, Patricia Arquette, Quentin Tarantino, Reese Witherspoon and (my personal hero) Rodney Dangerfield! And that's just to name a few. It would also help if you've seen Sandler's past films, especially in one particular scene with one of our mystery cameos. You'll be treated to a great inside joke. And of course, expect to see many of Sandler's regulars including Allen Covert, Clint Howard, Peter Dante, Blake Clark and Jon Lovitz.

"Little Nicky" is not a thoughtful piece and will probably do nothing to contribute to mankind. But it's a very funny comedy that I simply advise you don't watch over and over again. You'll enjoy it a lot the first time! Of course, the DVD has some really cool features, so if anything pick that up.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

Now this is the one Adam Sandler movie I do not get the rating off I mean if people like stuff like chuck and Larry and Happy Gilmore then why the hell do they not like this. Anyway the movie centers around Nicky a very geeky devils son who is sent on a mission to get his evil brother back for his Daddy Satan. The film is a must watch for Adam Sandler fans and just goes to show that people take movies too seriously now days like Adam Sandler movies are meant to be watched and after you watch them you are meant to say "man that was a no brain comedy". Overall watch this movie for a laugh and not particularly for anything else. I rate this film a fair 73% for making me laugh.