Released in the early 2000s, Little Nicky is truly the turning point of the millennium. I would go so far as to say that it is one of Sandler’s most underappreciated films, as it gives us a glimpse into his personality. The film’s premise is that the Devil decides not to retire, and two of his sons freeze the gates to Hell, and begin to create a new kind of hell on earth. We then follow the third son, Nicky (played by Sandler) and his journey on earth, as he tries to defeat his evil brothers and save his father. In writing this synopsis, I have become fully aware of how ridiculous this concept sounds.
But the actual production of the film is something else. In the first seven minutes, there is already a joke about Hitler shoving a pineapple up his bum. The crude and lewd undertones of Sandler’s twisted comedy shines through with many cringey one-liners such as “can I wash my winky in your kitchen sinky?” Shakespeare who, amiright? The script and vocabulary reminds me of those dudes that used to have photos of Gangster Spongebob as their profile picture on Facebook (Google it. Trust me). On top of that we have Sandler’s great performance as an actor, with his fake speech impediment and Metro Station-esque inspiration for his method acting. It is such a mismatched and confusing pairing that somehow cancels out to produce a semi-watchable film.
For such a rich guy, Sandler really does rely a lot on cheap shots. The film itself leans heavily on random quirks such as a talking dog or celebrity cameos to try and invest its audience. You kinda forget about the actual plotline of the film because you are so caught up in the waves of pop culture relevance Sandler so desperately conveys. But if we put all of that aside, we can see that Sandler is really trying to appeal to a Family Guy, Reddit loving audience, and he succeeds beautifully. Little Nicky was one of my favorite films when I was younger, and it has now become my favorite shit film as an adult.