Little Nicky Review
by "Robin Clifford" (rclifford AT teloquent DOT com)November 10th, 2000
"Little Nicky"
Nicky (Adam Sandler) is a good boy, a sweet boy. He is also the spawn of the Devil (Harvey Keitel). Dad has been on the throne of Hell for 10,000 years, but decides not to abdicate to any of his three sons. Nicky's elder brothers Adrian (Rhys Ifans) and Cassius (Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr.) have designs on dad's throne and the pair vamoose to the mortal world to upset the delicate balance between good and evil. This upheaval would mean the end of Satan and it's up to Nicky to go after his malevolent siblings and bring them back to Hell to save his Daddy in "Little Nicky."
Adam Sandler is an extraordinarily likable actor and comedian who captured the hearts of American moviegoers with his comedy/romance "The Wedding Singer." He solidified his icon status (and a $20 million paycheck) with the good-natured and goofy "The Water Boy," then again with the malevolent hit, "Big Daddy." Now, the comedian takes on his biggest role every - the Son of Satan.
On the surface, this should be a ready-made laugher that just has to capitalize on the good-versus-evil nature of the story and the comic presence of Sandler. Nicky has a sweet disposition even if he is the demon seed of the Devil. He has no designs to replace his Prince of Darkness dad and seems like the wrong one to send to earth to bring back his brothers. Adrian and Cassius team up to corrupt the morals of man and replace Satan in Hell. The demonic duo engineer such heinous events as lowering the drinking age to ten and changing New York's logo to "I Love Hookers." When they take over Hell, they want to be sure they have a lot of new clients.
As Nicky endeavors to capture his bad brothers, he falls for a good-hearted mortal woman name Valerie (Patricia Arquette). This proves a problem as Nicky is torn between his mission and his budding love for Valerie, jeopardizing daddy's wellbeing. This complicates things, as Nicky has to worry about his newly found love as well as saving his daddy.
The problem with "Little Nicky" is that it is a comedy without humor. The screenplay, by Tim Herlihy, wastes most opportunities for laughs on routine pratfalls and lame devil on earth jokes. Some attempt at cleverness comes with the arrival of two goofy dudes, Pete and John (Peter Dante and Jonathan Loughran), but these apostles are more like Led Zeppelin hangers on than disciples of the potential anti-Christ. Another sadly executed gag involves Curt Howard (Ron's brother) dressing in drag - there was something funny about this in concept that is woefully humorless in execution. The script also makes reference to Roberto Benigni's "The Monster," but fails to capitalize on this, and to "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Frankenstein." It goes nowhere with these paths and just drops the thread of these plot lines. Oh, yeah. The big battle for command of Hell is a pillow fight
There is good-naturedness to Nicky that makes the character likable despite the inane happenings around him. Sandler comes out best in a bad movie with his self-effacing charm and niceness - you come to find out that Dad made it with an angel (Reese Witherspoon) eons ago and Nicky was the result of that union. The vast supporting cast around Nicky is made up of a who's who list in Hollywood that, unfortunately, has little to do. Rodney Dangerfield (as grandpa Lucifer), Dana Carvey, Jon Lovitz, Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Neelon, Michael McKean, Carl Weathers, Rob Schneider, Henry Winkler, Ozzie Osbourne and Regis Philbin, among others, make their appearances in cameo perfs. It is a real waste of riches as no one has anything funny to do or say.
Techs are good, but even visions of Hell can't save "Little Nicky." I give it a D.
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