Little Nicky (film)

Infobox Film | name = Little Nicky


caption = "Little Nicky" promotional poster
director = Steven Brill
producer = Jack Giarraputo
Robert Simonds
writer = Adam Sandler
Steven Brill
Tim Herlihy
starring = Adam Sandler
Patricia Arquette
Harvey Keitel
Rhys Ifans
Tom 'Tiny' Lister, Jr.
Christina Haskins
music = Teddy Castellucci
cinematography = Theo Van de Sande
editing = Jeff Gourson
distributor = New Line Cinema
released = November 20, 2000 (USA)
runtime = 90 min.
language = English
budget = $80,000,000
imdb_id = 0185431

"Little Nicky" (2000) is a comedy film written, produced by and starring Adam Sandler. Rhys Ifans, Tom 'Tiny' Lister, Jr., Harvey Keitel, Allen Covert, and Patricia Arquette co-star, with Robert Smigel providing the voice of the talking dog, Mr. Beefy.

Nicky, the only good-hearted son of Satan, goes on a quest to save his father from his evil brothers, Adrian and Cassius. On the way, he learns the basic differences between Earth and Hell (after dying several times), discovers what love is, and acquires a certain fondness for Popeyes Chicken.

Ozzy Osbourne appears briefly in this film as himself, biting the head off a bat. Other cameos include Dan Marino, Henry Winkler, Dana Carvey, Michael McKean, Rob Schneider, Carl Weathers (playing his "Happy Gilmore" character, Chubbs Peterson), Rodney Dangerfield, Clint Howard, Jon Lovitz (singing the same tune as was sung by his character in Sandler's "The Wedding Singer"), Reese Witherspoon, Ellen Cleghorne, Kevin Nealon, Quentin Tarantino and Fred Wolf. The Harlem Globetrotters also are featured in a scene.

Plot synopsis

Nicky is the only good hearted son of Satan, who is constantly bullied by his cruel brothers, Cassius, a violent, brutish thug who apparently hit Nicky in the face with a shovel, giving Nicky his crooked face, speech impediment, and bad posture, and Adrian, a calculating evil genius with demonic strategic-planning abilities.

Since the end of the last year of the reign of their father (Harvey Keitel) as ruler of Hell approaches, he must choose one of his sons as his successor. Adrian and Cassius, seeing themselves each as the more likely candidate, (Cassius being strong and tough, while Adrian being ruthlessly cruel as well as intelligent), expect themselves to be chosen, while Nicky dreads the thought. However, in a surprise turn of events for the first two, their father chooses to continue his reign for another 10,000 years, reasoning that the key to ruling Hell is maintaining a balance between good and evil and that none of his sons are ready because they still do not understand that. Obviously angered, Cassius and Adrian leave the throne room; Nicky follows shortly after a conversation with his father.

Adrian devises a plan for him and his brother to escape to Earth and corrupt souls there so that he and Cassius could rule there instead. They then escape through the fiery gates of Hell and, because the fire flows in and not out, freeze up the gates, thereby not allowing any more souls to enter Hell, confining them to purgatory. As a result, because no new souls can come in, their father begins to fall apart literally as his decomposition process begins. It is up to Nicky to go back to Earth, find his brothers and imprison them in a drinking flask and return to Hell before his father fully decomposes in a week. Grudgingly, Nicky accepts, fearing for his father and the aftermath of his possible death. Unfortunately, he was only gone for (more or less) ten seconds because he was hit by a subway train, described by Nicky as "a big light, that was attached to a lot of metal!".

On Earth, Nicky befriends a pair of metalheads, John and Pete, a talking bulldog named Beefy, and his likely gay roommate Todd. He also meets dowdy, would-be girlfriend Valerie (Arquette), but when Adrian sees them together, he uses his power to make Nicky insult Valerie and give her the finger.

Nicky's brothers can possess people and effectively make themselves invisible. The only sign that Adrian or Cassius are in possession of a body is that the victim's feet will be smoking. However, as corruption begins to flood New York City, Nicky recognizes his brother Cassius' finger-clicking in the referee of the Harlem Globetrotters game and sets out to get him. After a (basketball) showdown, Nicky defeats Cassius, imprisoning him in the flask by saying it was actually filled with 'super devil juice'.

They then celebrate at Todd's apartment where everyone is introduced. Nicky then talks about Valerie and what Adrian made him say and do to her. He then visits her dorm, unfortunately finding the wrong room first, where an effeminate-looking male rubs his own nipples. Nicky finally finds Valerie; however, she sprays him in the eyes with pepper spray, and he falls off of the balcony. He stops above the ground and floats upward, resulting in another look at the nipple rubber (nicknamed "Nipples" by Nicky), and a punch to the face by Valerie. Everything is then explained to Valerie and they float above the city. A blind man (seen as a preacher in the movie, accusing Nicky of being the devil and constantly resulting in injury, ending up burning in flames at the Hell party) accuses Nicky again and calling Valerie an evil slut. Nicky punishes him with a cap and splashing water from a fire hydrant, bursting him into a shop. When she asks him if he did that, Nicky answers, "Nobody calls my girl an evil slut."

Nicky then sets out to find Adrian. However, Adrian is not so easily fooled, and, upon possessing the Chief of Police, sets out to arrest Nicky, calling him a monster and shows a video of Scarface with frame by frame pictures of Nicky talking, superimposed over his head. The metalheads betray Nicky and give him up to Adrian. However, their betrayal is actually a scheme to trap Adrian. Adrian follows the metalheads to a train platform in Grand Central Station, where Nicky will supposedly be arriving. However, Adrian realizes that Nicky is possessing of one of the metalheads, and forcefully draws him out. Adrian grabs Valerie, who is hiding nearby, and threatens to kill her unless Nicky drinks from the flask. Just as Nicky is about to drink from the flask, Mr. Beefy appears and fires an arrow into Adrian's leg, causing him to lose his grip on Valerie. Nicky tackles Adrian onto a subway rail, but Adrian grabs Valerie. Just at the last moment, Nicky throws his girlfriend off the rail, saving her from being hit by a train that is coming into the station. Adrian returns to Hell without Nicky, and he asks where his brother is.

Nicky, instead, ends up in Heaven, due to the good deed he did just before he got hit. He finds his mother Holly (Reese Witherspoon) and Nicky is shocked to discover his mother is not a mountain goat as Adrian and Cassius told him, but an angel. While in Heaven, he also meets Chubbs from "Happy Gilmore". While Nicky enjoys his stay in Heaven, Adrian is told that, with his father weakened, he can claim the Seat of Satan for himself. Adrian proceeds to grab his father's mouth and arms, the only remaining pieces of his father, and throws them away. Sitting down, Adrian grows horns, and the fires of Hell behind him grow in intensity.

Adrian summons a castle-like structure in Central Park, and declares that mankind shall be stripped of their souls by midnight. After receiving an orb of light from his mother, Nicky descends to Earth to battle Adrian. As the son of an Angel and the Devil, he possesses the powers of both light and darkness in him. After a fight (including a show of power, a pillow fight, and a three-way battle of brothers inside the flask), Nicky throws the orb from his mother onto the ground, calling forth Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy grabs Adrian, now transformed into a bat, and bites his head off. He then spits Adrian's head into the flask.

Nicky returns his brothers to Hell, rejuvenating his father to full health. Satan confesses he still loves Nicky's mother, and tells Nicky that with his mother in Heaven and himself in Hell, that Nicky should watch over Earth. Nicky returns to Earth to marry Valerie, and they have a son named Zachariah, who gets thrown out of pre-school for turning his classmate's milk into moose piss. He can breath fire, and he did this to an old lady who called him an angel. While planting tomatoes, Valerie accidentally hits Nicky's face with a shovel (which disfigured it in the first place), fixing his speech impediment. Beefy marries Heather, the rat he fell for, and she gives birth to five children (three have Heather's body and Beefy's head and face while the other two are vice-versa). Satan and Holly try to get back together, but it falls through; Satan is later romantically linked to both the Blair Witch and Cher, while Holly falls for her aerobics instructor, Chris Farley. As for the two metalheads, they use the reward money to buy Led Zeppelin's touring aircraft, "The Starship". However, since they forget to get a pilot, it crashes after takeoff and they die. However, in Hell, they live happily for the rest of eternity in Nicky's old bedroom.

Cast

*Adam Sandler as Nicky
*Patricia Arquette as Valerie Veran
*Harvey Keitel as Dad
*Rhys Ifans as Adrian
*Tommy 'Tiny' Lister as Cassius
*Rodney Dangerfield as Lucifer
*Allen Covert as Todd
*Peter Dante as Peter
*Jon Lovitz as Peeper
*Jonathan Loughran as John
*Reese Witherspoon as Holly
*Dana Carvey as Referee
*Robert Smigel as Beefy (voice)
*Ozzy Osbourne as himself

Response

Critical reaction to the film was fairly poor. Comedian and former "Mystery Science Theater 3000" host Michael J. Nelson named the film the worst comedy ever made. [cite web |url=http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=1681 |title=Inoperable Humor: The 5 Worst Comedies of All Time |accessdate=2007-03-26 |last=Nelson |first=Michael J. |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher=Cracked |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 22% approval rating. It was also nominated for five awards at the 21st Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Actor (Adam Sandler).

But despite this fact, it has gained a high likeability amongst younger generations. Some who have contributed to the films cult status would actually rank it amongst the best of Adam Sandler's movies.

oundtrack

#P.O.D. - "School of Hard Knocks
#Incubus - "Pardon Me"
#Deftones - "Change (In the House of Flies)"
#Cypress Hill - "(Rock) Superstar"
#Insolence - "Natural High"
#Linkin Park - "Points of Authority"
#Disturbed - "Stupify (Fu's Forbidden Little Nicky Remix)"
#Unloco - "Nothing"
#Powerman 5000 - "When Worlds Collide"
#Muse - "Cave"
#Filter - "Take A Picture"
#Deftones - "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) (Acoustic)"
#AC/DC - "Highway to Hell"
#Foo Fighters - " Everlong "
#Zebrahead - " Now or Never "

Trivia

*Angus Young of AC/DC was originally set to play the Devil, but dropped out a couple of weeks before shooting for unspecified reasons.
*In one scene, when Nicky is attempting to intimidate someone, he says "I once shot a man just to see him die" A reference to Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues.
*Nicky has roots in a character named Gil Graham that Sandler portrayed on Weekend Update during his time on Saturday Night Live. Similarities include his speech pattern, his hairstyle, and his affinity for heavy metal music.
*The title character's name, Little Nicky, may be inspired from the skit "Respect" from Adam Sandler's album "What The Hell Happened To Me?" or from a minor character from the cult television series "Twin Peaks". This can also be due to the fact that in many European countries "Old Nick" is a common nickname for the devil. The fact that he is the son of Satan would be a logical reason behind the name "Little Nicky"Fact|date=March 2007
*Each 10,000 years a new Devil is chosen to rule Hell. The first was Lucifer (Rodney Dangerfield), who preferred to "rule in Hell, than serve in Heaven". This is a possible reference to the epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton, as in the first book Satan, during his speech to his followers, claims "Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven".
*When Ozzy Osbourne says his single sentence to Nicky he speaks with a generic English accent as opposed to his actual Brummie accent—and he doesn't mumble, speaking more clearly.
*In the scene where Beefy the bulldog is trying to get Nicky to use his powers, right before Todd leaves the room, you can see a poster that says BLOW-UP on it. Shortly after, Nicky Gets mad and blows up Todd's TV.
*Near the end of the film there is a reference to the movie "Happy Gilmore". In "Happy Gilmore", Sandler's character is taught to play golf by a former golf pro named Chubbs Peterson, who later dies when Happy tries to return the favor by presenting him with the dead crocodile that ate Chubbs' hand, which scared Chubbs and caused him to fall out a window. In Little Nicky, after saving the woman he loves moments before being hit by a train, Nicky goes to Heaven where he is introduced to Chubbs by his mother. You can see Chubbs recognizes him from somewhere, but obviously shrugs it off, dancing and chanting the words "It's all in the hips," a phrase his character used often in Happy Gilmore, as he leaves.
*Another of Sandler's movie references is the cameo appearance by Rob Schneider. Schneider reprises his role as the townie in "The Waterboy", where he frequently used the catchphrase "You can do it!"
*Marilyn Manson was originally going to have a role in the movie but he later had to bow out due to conflicting schedules.
*When Nicky gets killed by the bus and blood gets spattered on his two friends, the number 666 is made. At the basketball game when the camera shows his two friends again, the blood is all gone except the 666.
*When Nicky is noticed by the foreign couple and they begin to speak in a different language to him, the camera switches to Nicky, who also begins speaking that language. If you look in the background in which Nicky is talking, you can see Tom's Restaurant, which is the restaurant commonly seen in Seinfeld.
*The Chicago album being played backwards is Chicago V, but the track being played is "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" which did not appear on Chicago V, but on Chicago's debut album called The Chicago Transit Authority.
*Dana Carvey (Referee) broke his ankle while filming the Harlem Globetrotters basketball game scene.
*The ending was dedicated to Chris Farley, a good friend of Sandler who died in 1997.
*When Jon Lovitz character arrives in Hell and is sentenced to be sexually harassed by a giant bird, the song "It's Ladies Night" plays. This is a reference to his character in another Adam Sandler Movie, The Wedding Singer
*In television re-airings of the film, The Popeye's logo on the Giant box of Popeye's Chicken is blurred, and then when the demon says "Popeye's Chicken is the shiznit", the word Popeye's is removed.

Cameos

* Rodney Dangerfield as Lucifer.
* Ozzy Osbourne as himself
* Dan Marino appears in the movie as himself, his character asking to continue with his team to win the Super Bowl.
* Henry Winkler - appears as himself, being covered in bees by Adrian, again by Nicky twice.
* Dana Carvey - The possessed referee, who is ruining the Globetrotters' game.
* Reese Witherspoon - She plays Nicky's mother Holly.
* John Witherspoon - He plays the flask thief.
* Carl Weathers - He played Chubbs the golf and dance instructor in Heaven, who also appeared in "Happy Gilmore".
* Bill Walton - The commentator of the Globetrotters game.
* Chris Farley - Not seen due to his death in 1997, but is Nicky's mother's new love interest. (Is seen in the DVD ending).
* Quentin Tarantino - Plays a crazy blind man who shouts that the end of the world is near.
* Leah Lail - Plays an angel girlfriend of Nicky's mother.
* Jackie Sandler - Plays another angel girlfriend of Nicky's mother.

Video game

A Game Boy Color game was released based on this film shortly after its release. According to IGN, it has a rating of 8.0/10. [ [http://rr.gameboy.ign.com/rrobj/pocket/object/15294/ IGN: Reader Reviews For: Little Nicky ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.littlenicky.com/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0185431|title=Little Nicky
*rotten-tomatoes|id=little_nicky|title=Little Nicky
* [http://fan.psychollection.net/nicky The Little Nicky Fanlisting]

Box Office Leaders USA
before = Charlie's Angels
date = November 12
year = 2000
after = How the Grinch Stole Christmas