Starring Adam Sandler and Patricia Arquette
“Little Nicky” (New Line, PG-13) continues Sandler’s streak of cinematic guilty pleasures, full of objectionable humor, an underdog protagonist and a handful of memorable scenes and lines to be immediately injected into the pop lexicon. Although perilously close to falling into a storytelling rut, Sandler’s latest proves the fun he has making a film still transfers over quite well.
Leave it to Sandler and his band of merry buddies to make a movie that includes scenes in heaven, hell, purgatory and still manages to work in scenes where the gatekeeper of hell develops a set of breasts on top of his head. (Any joke here involving the phrase “hat rack” would just be wrong).
Nicky symbolizes the growing strains on the nuclear family, with his dad (Harvey Keitel) as the devil and his mother (Reese Witherspoon) a beautiful angel. Due to power struggles in hell, Nicky’s brothers Adrian (Rhys Ifans) and Cassius (Tiny Lister Jr.) are aiming to take the throne, all the while picking on the nice Nicky. There’s no compassion in hell!
The brothers escape to the earth world after the devil proclaims himself still the ruler, hoping to create a new hell. Obviously, somebody beat them to it (see New Jersey). Still, the action causes the devil to start losing his power, forcing Nicky to follow his brothers and capture them. This allows a whole slew of “stranger in a strange land” jokes, something Sandler excels in.
In his travels, Nicky meets up with plenty of characters who either look like characters in other Sandler movies or are exactly the same characters in other Sandler movies. This does allow for some solid cameos, from both D-list celebrities and “Saturday Night Live” alums looking for some fun and work. Yes, Ellen Cleghorne and Jon Lovitz are alive and well.
The required love interest appears in the form of a frumpy, bifocal-stricken college student named Valerie (Patricia Arquette). But love is tough, especially when your brothers can mind-wrestle you, forcing you to give a one-fingered gesture during a date. “The devil made me do it,” once again, becomes a viable excuse.
A string of screw-ups and run-ins leads to more situational comedy and, ultimately, a battle among all three brothers for ultimate control, even as the current devil deteriorates into an earless mess of a prince of darkness.
Even more than the Sandler classics (“Happy Gilmore” and “Billy Madison”), so many small characters litter the screenplay that the variety propels the story and doesn’t allow the audience to get sick of Nicky’s slurred voice (the result of a shovel to the face) and hair that looks to have been styled with Elmer’s glue. Thus, the underdog good guy that doesn’t know any better becomes an undercurrent, rather than the focal point. The somewhat tepid response (by overall comparison) to “The Waterboy” may have altered Sandler’s writing tactics just a tad.
The usual buddies shine as well, including Allen Covert as Todd, Nicky’s roommate on earth and the butt of plenty of jokes. Even a dog joins in on the fun, voiced by “SNL” and Conan O’Brien writer Robert Smigel.
Smigel may have developed his own genre with crude talking dogs. Unfortunately, Smigel’s other dog, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, would say Beefy is a good dog (pause) for him to .... oh, you know the rest.
In the end, the movie works much like a DVD newly remastered with a few hilarious outtakes: We know what’s heading our way, but we are helpless in shelling out money because the givens are hellaciously successful.
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