Little Nicky

Herald rating: * * *

Cast: Adam Sandler, Harvey Keitel, Rhys Ifans, Patricia Arquette, Tommy Lister jun

Director: Steven Brill

Rating: M (sexual references)

Running Time: 93 minutes

Screening: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas

Review: Russell Baillie

On the face of it, Little Nicky comes with its own definition of hell - a movie in which Adam Sandler spends an hour and half talking in a funny voice.

But for all of Sandler's lisping moron-act, the movie surrounding him is actually pretty funny. Though if you don't get what's amusing about Ozzy Osbourne turning up in a cameo to bite the head off a bat, then this movie was never really meant for you.

However, if you suffered through last year's plague of quasi-religious apocalyptic movies, then this could be seen as a much-needed spoof.

Sandler plays Nicky, the youngest and most wimpy of three spawns of Satan (Keitel). However, when Dad announces he won't be passing the family business on for another 10,000 years, the elder two, Cassius (Lister) and Adrian (the scene-stealing Ifans), figure they'll take off to Manhattan and set up in competition, freezing the gates of Hell in their departure.

That causes Dad to start disintegrating and only Little Nicky can save him by going to New York and bringing his siblings back.

He has as a guide a foul-mouthed talking bulldog, and soon his life is a living hell - his flatmate is a struggling actor, his new best friends are heavy metal headbangers and the girl of his dreams (Arquette, obviously going for some spiritual light relief after her apocalyptic screamer Stigmata), isn't afraid to use her mace spray when he goes a little weird.

Then there's the cameos from Quentin Tarantino (still can't act), Rodney Dangerfield as Nicky's grandfather (well, he looks like hell), Dana Carvey, Ron Howard's weird-looking brother Clint, Henry Winkler, Ozzy of course, and the Harlem Globetrotters leading off a run of far too many American sports heroes who need to wear nametags outside of the States.

It falls flat occasionally, has no pace to speak of, but it delivers its Big Dumb Jokes loud and clear with some occasionally inspired ridiculousness, such as Nicky sleeping on the radiator to feel Hell's heat while snoring like The Exorcist's Linda Blair.

Or the bit when the final conflict for the balance between good and evil turns into a pillowfight. And while that voice of his gets really annoying, it's strangely low on Sandler's usual gross-out factor, which might disappoint some but actually helps to make this quite a curiosity - a Satanic feelgood comedy.