Little Nicky - Un diavolo a Manhattan

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.

Satan has decided to stay in charge of Hell for a few more years, a decision that enrages two of his sons (Adrian and Cassius) who decide to create their own Hell on Earth and rule there instead. Whenever they leave Hell, Satan's powers begin to fade and has less than a week before he will be destroyed. With no choice but to send his third, weaker son, Satan sends Nicky to Earth to capture his brothers and bring them back to Hell and restore the norm. However the simple and naïve Nicky struggles to cut it in the real world.

I will always give Adam Sadler films a go because I often find just about enough moments of inspired lunacy among the puerile and pretty unfunny material. Sadly, this outing sees such a terrible plot combined with awful acting, unfunny writing, tired special effects and crude joking and almost no moments that took me by surprise and made me laugh. Instead the film is just plain stupid with very few laughs in it at all. Of course it may well appeal to some with its silly humour and its silly crude joking but personally it was pretty laugh free and the whole idea of the film was too dumb and silly to really work. The actual plot is never a really strong aspect of any Sadler film but here it is just all over the place. It is not that it makes no sense, it is more that it lacks any sense of fun at all and the dark tone is totally misjudged and the usual moments of inspired craziness is really limited to one or two moments (the best being the Fonz covered in bees!).

The cr*p script is not helped at all by a cast that is either rubbish or wasted. Sadler himself falls into the 'rubbish' camp with a performance that is like his usual mugging but even more unbearable. With his twisted expression and nasty voice, he was actually painful to watch – and this is not based on a hatred of Sadler (I loved him in Punchdrunk a few days ago) it is based on the fact that this is a terrible performance with nothing but a terrible idea and a terrible character to work with. The support cast is made up of plenty of well-known faces but few are used well at all and too many of them are embarrassing. Keitel falls into the latter category and he has a thankless role that is not worthy of his talent. Ifans and Lister are given hard work by mostly doing voice work with poor dialogue (in their heads) and they were not funny at all. Arquette is given nothing to do at all but still manages to be lame and annoying. The various cameos are mixed – Taratino is just dumb; Dangerfield is OK but not given enough time; Weathers, Witherspoon, Witherspoon and others are all given nothing to do other than show their faces but Lovitz and Schneider at least provide some unexpected weirdness in very minor roles.

Overall, Sadler films are normally average at best but I must say that I found this to be devoid of all but the slightest hint of the inspired humour that he can often create. The story is stupid and silly, the acting both bad and embarrassing, the script filled with misfiring jokes that are mostly in bad taste as well as being unfunny (a bad combination). A real waste of time that will only appeal to the most die-hard fans of Sadler and those that only like their comedy to be very basic indeed.

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)

When the time came for the Devil to hand over hell to one of his heirs and retire, he decided to keep the power for himself. But they didn't like it, and they decide to run to Earth to create their own hell there. Because the children were on Earth, the Devil began to fall apart. He sends his younger and beloved son Nikki after the rebellious brothers.

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