A Hell of a Good Time ***½

I have never felt as much relief while leaving a movie as I did exiting the cinema after watching Little Nicky.  The preview for this latest effort from Adam Sandler was less than impressive and its far to say that the film has hardly set the U.S.A box office on fire with its performance. 

To be blunt, the movie had "turkey" written all over it and as an Adam Sandler fan, this had me worried.  As it turned out, those worries were unwarranted because Little Nicky is another enjoyable Adam Sandler film packed with his trademark brand of humour that people either love or hate.

And whether you like that humour or not is what will influence whether or not you like this film.  It is certainly not going to win Sandler any new fans but at the same time his loyal fans will enjoy the film's throwback to his earlier work, such as Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.

Little Nicky is certainly not a thinking movie, in fact any half intelligent person (that counts me out) will probably not enjoy the film  It is full of childish humour that often misses its mark.  At times the film is almost too stupid for its own good, but luckily there are enough laughs to make up for the misguided moments.

As with all Sandler films, the plot (the son of Satan (Sandler) must go to earth to bring back his two renegade brothers who are determined to turn earth into the new hell) is of little relevance and the audience is left to enjoy the oddball characters that come at us thick and fast.

Fans of Sandler's earlier work will recognise countless familiar faces popping up throughout the movie and this reintroduction of familiar characters is a highlight of the film.

Cameo's are standard place in the film and Dana Carvey (Wayne's World) is the best of them as a referee of a Harlem Globetrotters match who gets a little technical with his calls; it's hilarious stuff.  Also making appearances are Quentin Tarantino, Rodney Dangerfield, Reese Witherspoon, Henry Winkler and Ozzy Osbourne.

Surprising, Sandler takes a back seat in the comedy stakes, preferring to let the other characters provide the laughter while he plays the straight man.  It's a little disappointing to see this as it is Sandler's performances that people want to see, after all, he is the one getting twenty million dollars to make us laugh.

Still, Sandler fans will get a kick out of his latest effort.   Little Nicky is a typical Sandler film complete with a bad plot, bad jokes and stacks of pointless cameos.  It's great fun!

- Adam Matthews