Little Nicky
A Black Comedy film starring Adam Sandler as the eponymous Nicky, the third son of Satan. After his two older half brothers escape from Hell, the Gates of Hell literally freeze over. No new souls can enter, so Nicky must journey to Earth and bring his brothers back. Meanwhile, due to this, Satan's power is weakening and his body literally begins to fall apart.
Mike Nelson has gone as far as calling it "the worst comedy ever made", though it remains a Cult Classic.
Tropes used in Little Nicky include:
- A Hell of a Time: What happens when the two stoner metalheads die in a plane crash? They go to Hell. "They've never been happier."
- Then again said metalheads are Pals With The Devil's Son so it makes sense that they'd get special treatment.
- Adolf Hitler: See Ass Shove below.
- All Part of the Show: A demon can get away with all sorts of mischief and "special effects" at a Harlem Globetrotters game. Even when the basketball explodes, this only results in an annoyed referee.
- Alliterative Name: Valerie Veran, the second to last of Adam's "V-name" girlfriends.
- Ambiguously Gay: Nicky's roommate.
- Anti-Anti-Christ?: Nicky, who's actually quite a likable guy.
- Ass Shove: The ass is Hitler's. The shoved item is a pineapple. Apparently, by law, he has to receive an ass shove daily for his crimes. He gets to pick the pineapple, though.
- On the other hand, it's implied he is often forced to pick one of the larger ones. Ouch.
- The pineapple only happens once. The second time at the end of the movie he has Cassius and Adrian shoved up there.
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Grandpa: Alright, boys! Enjoy your new home! |
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- Balance Between Good and Evil: Apparently Satan's job. If either Adrian or Cassius took the throne, they would upset that balance.
- Big Bad: Adrian.
- Big Brother Bully: The attacks from Cassius and Adrian (specifically, at least one event involving a shovel) are why Nicky has speech issues.
- Black Speech: Nicky usually speaks normally (for Nicky, anyway), but when he sleep talks...
- Mr. Beefy has a variation on this, too.
- The Cameo: An assload. The best has to be Quentin Tarantino as a blind preacher, who suffers numerous Amusing Injuries when in Nicky's presence.
- Continuity Nod: Carl Weathers as Chubbs, who died in Happy Gilmore, appears in the Heaven scenes.
- Care Bear Stare:
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Nicky: Release the good. |
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- Celebrity Power: What ultimately defeats the Big Bad? Ozzy Osbourne, who was summoned from an orb that was given to Nicky by God.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: "Are there boobs on my head?!" "Yeah, big ones."
- Deal with the Devil: Subverted. Dan Marino wants to sell his soul to Dad, but he's rejected because Dad thinks he's too much of a nice guy to go to Hell... and because he's a Jets fan.
- Death as Comedy: "I got hit by a bright light... that was attached to a lot of metal..."
- Detect Evil: The blind preacher can sense Nicky and his son's demonic presence, but doesn't seem to sense their angel blood.
- Deus Ex Machina: See Celebrity Power above. Possibly one of the strangest Deus Ex endings in history.
- Dumb Is Good: Nicky is far dumber than Adrian. One character even flat out remarks that there's no way Nicky can outsmart him.
- It's implied that Nicky isn't dumber because he's good, so much as because he's suffered a lot of head trauma over the years. Thanks to his brothers.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even with the sympathetic portrayal of the demons, it's the Big Bad Adrian who balks at seeing Clint Howard in drag and dancing barechested.
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Adrian: Well... maybe not that horrible... but still pretty bad. |
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- Everything's Worse with Bees: Henry Winkler is covered in bees... twice.
- Eye Scream: "You got it right in the eye!"
- Female Angel, Male Demon: Parodied in that Nicky's father (Satan) is a bit of a Dirty Old Man, while Nicky's mother (an angel) is a blonde Valley Girl.
- French Maid: Adolf Hitler. Yes, really.
- Groin Attack: Nicky's brothers mind-wrestle him into punching himself in the crotch.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr. as Cassius, has made a career out of being "that guy". Mr White is Nicky's father, and Elle Woods is his mother.
- Justified Extra Lives: Nicky was born in Hell and left it near the start of the movie. Dying and being sent back there just means he gets to leave and try again.
- Late Arrival Spoiler: Who is Nicky's mom? Well, it says right on the poster, doesn't it?
- Legacy Character: Nicky's father is the second Satan; the first is Rodney Dangerfield. Even in Hell, he gets no respect.
- Like a Badass Out of Hell: Albeit with someone who was born there.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Or mother, in this case.
- Metalhead: John and Peter are two Satanic Metalheads who think it's unbelievably awesome that they get to hang out with the Devil's son.
- Our Founder: The first Satan (Lucifer?) founded Hell. Presumably after he was kicked out of Heaven.
- The Peeping Tom: The film starts with one falling out of his tree and going to Hell. Played by Jon Lovitz, no less.
- Pillow Fight
- Product Placement: "Popeye's Chicken is fuckin' awesome!"
- Which had a very weird sort of censoring on network TV - any instances of "Popeye's Chicken" being uttered is either bleeped or, in the case of the giant tub it came in, redacted.
- Double Standard Rape (Male on Male): Satan + Hitler + Pineapple. Hilarity Ensues. It's Hitler, so it's okay.
- Satan Is Good: Satan only wants what's best for Nicky. He's fine with him living on Earth.
- Shapeshifter Showdown: Nicky and Adrian duel with their good and evil magic, with highlights including Adrian turning a cute baby into a creepy midget.
- Shout-Out: Actually a rather touching one to Chris Farley, a good friend of Adam Sandler's, who had recently died. According to the Where Are They Now? Epilogue in Heaven, he ended up working in Heaven as a fitness instructor and dating Nicky's mother (Reese Witherspoon).
- Son of a Whore: A deleted scene revealed that the angels told Nicky that his brothers’ mothers are hookers and not fire dragons.
- Speech Impediment: Nicky. It's implied that this is due to having his face smashed with a shovel.
- Subliminal Seduction: Parodied. Nicky reveals a Satanic backwards message on a song by the soft-rock band Chicago.
- Funnily enough, the Ozzy Osbourne record they listen to doesn't have any, because "the Blizzard always came straight with his messages".
- Talking Animal: Mr. Beefy.
- Theme Naming: Those Two Guys are called John and Peter. Crosses into The Danza as they are credited as Jonathan Loughran and Peter Dante. Yes, Dante.
- They Killed Kenny: Nicky is killed seven times in the span of the ninety minute movie. Being a denizen of Hell, he can just walk right back out. Deaths include: Being hit by a train twice, being hit by a truck and a bus, attacked by a polar bear off-screen, drowned by his roomate and for the finale hit in the head with a large rock.
- Toilet Humour: After all, it is an Adam Sandler movie.
- What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: At one point, Nicky's final fight with Adrian becomes a pillow fight.
- Where Are They Now? Epilogue
- You Will Know What to Do: The orb.