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Review by Susan Granger
0 stars out of 4
Perhaps "Battlefield Earth" wasn't the worst movie of the
year! This offensive comedy raises that distinct possibility. Adam
Sandler ("Big Daddy") runs amok as the silly third son of Satan
(Harvey Keitel) who is sent to New York City in search of his two
rotten brothers (Rhys Ifans, Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.) who are
determined to corrupt enough souls to pull a devil of a coup. His
guide is Beefy, a talking bulldog. And a dorky design student
(Patricia Arquette) provides a whiff of romance. The gleefully
irreverent screenplay by Tim Herlihy and Sandler rides roughshod over
religion, race, politics, sexual orientation, plus drug and alcohol
abuse, offering much to offend everyone. Shortly into the film, it
becomes obvious that Popeye's Chicken has bankrolled the budget since
there's more of this fast-food product placement than I've seen in any
recent film. Except for Reese Witherspoon as a Valley-girl angel, the
cameos (Dana Carvey, Rodney Dangerfield, Jon Lovitz, Regis Philbin)
are crass and crude, particularly Quentin Tarantino's feeble attempt
at acting. When his holy man dies in a pillar of fire, it's
merciful. Sandler's so-called speech impediment, caused by a blow from
a shovel, has the annoying, irritating quality of nails scratching on
a blackboard. But director Steven Brill and lenser Theo Van De Sande's
Hieronymous Bosch-like depiction of Hell is fascinating, as is
watching Harvey Keitel tackle his first comedic role, particularly
when he disintegrates into talking lips. It takes a certain amount of
demented creativity to depict Hitler, dressed as a ballerina, being
tortured with a pineapple in a very dark, private portion of his
body. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Little Nicky" is a truly
stupid, cosmically embarrassing 1. To call it moronic is unkind to
morons.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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