Little Nicky Review
by Susan Granger (Ssg722 AT aol DOT com)November 10th, 2000
http://www.susangranger.com/
Susan Granger's review of "LITTLE NICKY" (New Line Cinema)
Perhaps "Battlefield Earth" wasn't the worst movie of the year! This offensive comedy raises that distinct possibility. Adam Sandler ("Big Daddy") runs amok as the silly third son of Satan (Harvey Keitel) who is sent to New York City in search of his two rotten brothers (Rhys Ifans, Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.) who are determined to corrupt enough souls to pull a devil of a coup. His guide is Beefy, a talking bulldog. And a dorky design student (Patricia Arquette) provides a whiff of romance. The gleefully irreverent screenplay by Tim Herlihy and Sandler rides roughshod over religion, race, politics, sexual orientation, plus drug and alcohol abuse, offering much to offend everyone. Shortly into the film, it becomes obvious that Popeye's Chicken has bankrolled the budget since there's more of this fast-food product placement than I've seen in any recent film. Except for Reese Witherspoon as a Valley-girl angel, the cameos (Dana Carvey, Rodney Dangerfield, Jon Lovitz, Regis Philbin) are crass and crude, particularly Quentin Tarantino's feeble attempt at acting. When his holy man dies in a pillar of fire, it's merciful. Sandler's so-called speech impediment, caused by a blow from a shovel, has the annoying, irritating quality of nails scratching on a blackboard. But director Steven Brill and lenser Theo Van De Sande's Hieronymous Bosch-like depiction of Hell is fascinating, as is watching Harvey Keitel tackle his first comedic role, particularly when he disintegrates into talking lips. It takes a certain amount of demented creativity to depict Hitler, dressed as a ballerina, being tortured with a pineapple in a very dark, private portion of his body. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Little Nicky" is a truly stupid, cosmically embarrassing 1. To call it moronic is unkind to morons.
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