Adam Sandler has always been a very interesting figure in the world of film. Coming out of the world of stand-up comedy and rising to notoriety during his time on “Saturday Night Live” in the early nineties. He was best known for his absurdest characters like Opera Man, Cajun Man and of course Canteen Boy among many others. It was only a matter of time before he appeared in his first major motion picture(Billy Madison:1995). Sandler would prove to become a major box office draw and a series of films would eventually follow. However despite his major success there have always been dissenters as to both his skills as an actor and the comedic merit of his films themselves. While I personally have always liked Sandler movies I have also kept an open ear to the common criticisms, chiefly among them that “Adam Sandler plays the same mush mouthed character in every movie” or that “ His movies rely to heavily on childish humor like gross out gags and gay jokes”. Yet despite all this there seems to be one movie in the Sandler filmography that is hated by both dissenter and hardcore fan alike. This film just happens to be one of my personal favorites and it is the film I have decided to highlight this week. That film is Little Nicky, join me wont you as I remember this film and the people behind it.
Directed by Steven Brill(Without A Paddle, Mr. Deeds, Drillbit Taylor)and written by both him and Sandler is a 2000 comedy that tells the story of Nicky(Sandler) one of three sons of the Devil(Harvey Keitel ). Having been the Prince of Darkness for ten thousand years, the Devil assembles his sons to decide which of them will succeed him, but instead he keeps the throne for himself. Angered by this decision, the other two brothers Adrian(Rhys Ifans ) and Cassius(Tom 'Tiny' Lister, Jr. ) go to Earth to create a new Hell by possessing religious and political leaders in New York City. As they leave, they freeze the entrance to Hell, preventing more souls from entering and causing Satan's body to begin decomposing. To stop Adrian and Cassius, Satan sends Nicky to Earth with a silver flask that traps whoever drinks from it inside.
While at first glance this basic premise might appear that it is a religious comedy in the same vain as something like Kevin Smiths Dogma, but upon closer inspection we see that Little Nicky is your standard fish out of water comedy with Christian mythology used as a backdrop.
Its difficult to really categories or rate the humor in this film or any other film for that matter as comedy is a very subjective thing. Most of the laughs for me personally come not from Nicky's failed attempts to fit in on earth but the crazy impact him and his evil brothers have on the world around them. In most movies when the devil comes to earth its usually always written like the end of days this movie takes an opposite approach by having the devil eat pizza drink booze and generally have fun pushing people to sin. I don't think I know another movie that takes this kinda comedic view of what the devil would be like on earth and I personally love this silly imagining.
By the end of the of the movie Nicky makes friends falls in love and ends up defeating the villain. Its a story we've heard a million times before in this type of movie but for some reason in this film it all just kinda jives for me.
On a strictly technical level Little Nicky has two really great things go for it. The first is it has a great cast, besides Sandler himself and the people Ive just mentioned Rodney Dangerfield ,Dana Carvey ,Reese Witherspoon ,Kevin Nealon ,Robert Smigel ,Regis Philbin ,Ozzy Osbourne ,Henry Winkler and Quentin Tarantino all make appearances in this movie and all most all of them get a laugh.
The other great thing this movie has going for it is the sound track. Any movie about th devil needs to have a badass soundtrack and this movie dose not disappoint. ACDC, Foo Fighters, Motley Crew, Incubus and Cypress Hill tunes are all used throughout the course of the movie.
And while my feelings about the film will always be very positive I cannot denie that after its release the film was universally paned. The film opened at #2 at the North American box office making $16 million USD in its opening weekend, behind Charlie's Angels, which was on its second consecutive week at the top spot. Critical reaction to the film was fairly poor. Based on 109 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 22% of critics gave Little Nicky a positive review.[2] Comedian and former Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Michael J. Nelson named the film the worst comedy ever made.[3] It was also nominated for five awards at the 21st Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Actor (Adam Sandler).
So that's my piece on a movie I like but everyone else seems to hate feel free to leave a comment or talk about how you feel about the film thanks.
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