Little Nicky Details

This might be stupid, crass, vulgar and more tasteless than the last three Farrelly brothers' movies put together, but it is also — in places — gloriously funny. For the first time, comedian Adam Sandler gets to perform his trademark moronic schtick against a backdrop of visually imaginative production values and devilishly good special effects. Director Steven Brill's trifle won't win Sandler any new fans, but it has enough fantasy flair to at least give his detractors pause for thought. Complete with Waterboy-style speech impediment and contorted face, Sandler plays the son of Satan (Harvey Keitel), dispatched to Earth to bring his brothers (Rhys Ifans and Tommy “Tiny” Lister Jr) back to the underworld before they can gather up enough evil souls to stage a coup in Hades. That's all the plot this satire needs to allow Sandler to head-spin and fire-breathe his merry way through one satanic skit after another, taking in a talking bulldog (the best visual effect in the picture), two heavy metal head-bangers (the hilarious Peter Dante and Jonathan Loughran), numerous character morphs by his nasty siblings, gross bodily functions, trips to a Clueless heaven and overall spoof-Exorcist silliness. Bound to offend every minority group going, Little Nicky provides abundant lowbrow wit and a winning “take no prisoners” attitude that Sandler's admirers will adore. If you're not one of those, then either don't bother, or take cover!

Sandler's persona of simple-minded man-child wearies more than usual in a cheap, crude, tasteless comedy that is woefully short on laughs.