Little Nicky
Joe's Preview Review:
Could be not only the worst Sandler movie ever but one of the least funny comedies of all time.
Joe's Film Review:
Adam Sandler is definitely not my favorite actor. I think he makes movies that are equivalent to junk. With that said, I have enjoyed many of these movies on that level but he's just an annoying person who always seems to do the "I'm Stupid" schtick. You know where he walks around with some kind of impediment, usually an accent most reminiscent of a mentally handicapped person. That is the extent of his acting range.
I hated "The Waterboy", this movie is much better than that piece of junk. That was a product of pure moronic crap. "Little Nicky" is one tiny step up. There are few funny running jokes to go along with one of the most ludicrous stories in history. I don't know who approved this script, Sandler most probably, but I wouldn't have put it into production. It has about as much development as the screenplay for "Wing Commander". If you didn't see "Wing Commander", you're one of the lucky ones.
The story of "Little Nicky" can be categorized a comedy about the horrible place you can imagine, Hell. Some might consider watching this movie as hell. Anyway, The Devil (Harvey Keitel) has been ruling for ten thousand years and must choose a successor between his sons. There's Adrian, the intelligent and evil son, Cassius, the mighty African American son, and Nicky, the nice son of Satan that is deformed due to being hit in the face by his brother Adrian.
When Adrian and Cassius get angry, they come up with a plan to go to Earth, make it their own Hell, and rule over. Great plan! It's my Hell right now, if I believed in Hell, another discussion, another time. The sons don't know that by going to Earth they have closed the gates to Hell. Unknowingly by closing the gates they are killing their father. Nicky is the only one who can save his father and Hell.
Two paragraphs of plot explanation is one and half paragraphs too much. Besides Sandler, this movie is full of other familiar faces. His evil brothers are played by Rhys Ifans (Hugh Grant's roommate in "Notting Hill") and Alton "Tiny" Lister from "Friday". Both of their roles mostly take place in other bodies so they are not around too much. Sometimes, they engage with telepathic "Mind Games" with Nicky in which they take control of his weak mind and make him do things like punch himself in the balls. Another stupid idea portrayed over and over in the flick.
Then there's Patricia Arquette as the dorky girl that takes a liking to Nicky. She's always bad, I can't take her. She is one of the least talented actresses in Hollywood. Harvey Keitel has some funny lines. They weren't too far off with casting Keitel as The Devil. The two are around the same age. Rodney Dangerfield has an excellent cameo as the Devil's father. Then there are a whole bunch of awful cameos led by Quentin Tarantino as a blind, crazy street preacher. Clint Howard (Ron Howard's odd looking brother) is a crossdresser who loves his to play with his nipples. More useless cameos come from the likes of Michael McKeon, David Spade, Dan Marino, and Reese Witherspoon.
The two funny roles from SNL vets came from Jon Lovitz and Kevin Nealon. Lovitz opens up the movie as a freakish peeping-tom that pretends he's a bird. He has a few funny jokes. Nealon probably has the funniest role in the movie as the gatekeeper who gets punished by having breasts on his head. Thus getting the nickname of
Tithead.
Lots of jokes with sexual organs, random animals, and jokes about sticking pineapples up Hitler's butt on a weekly basis are the foundation of this movie, not much of a foundation. The film is a dumb Adam Sandler movie with a bit of a bigger budget for special effects and a lot more cameos. The studio figures if Sandler's in it, people will go. they are somewhat right. But after a while I hope people will tire of this junk and the movie will have to be more developed. "The Wedding Singer" is brilliant in comparison and the movie had to overcome Drew Barrymore's inabilities and ineptitudes. She's really not funny.
The talking dog voiced by SNL vet Robert Smigel is hysterical. There are two hell-obsessed bums that follow Nicky around are funny but these three funny characters are lost in a glut of bad comedy including the fate of the world being decided in a pillow fight and the potty humor. The movie has at least 12 curses and should not be rated PG-13 either. Continuous hell, devil, and fire themed songs fill you're eardrums. Mostly by Sandler's favorites, 80's hair bands and metal bands such as Van
Halen.
A dumb movie for the diehard Sandler fans, and fans of extreme potty humor.
Rating 1.5 out of 4 Stars
Running Time: 87 tortuous minutes
Rated PG-13 for sexuality and strong language
Starring: Adam Sandler et al
Written by: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler, Steven Brill
Directed by: Steven Brill
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