Little Nicky

  • Review Date: May 18, 2003
  • PG-13
  • Genre: Comedy
  • 2000
 Review

Common Sense Media says

This is no Wedding Singer.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie is right up at the R edge of PG-13, with one use of "f--k" and a lot of other strong language and sexual references. One of Satan's daily tasks is to punish a French-maid's-uniform-clad Hitler by inserting a pineapple into his rear end. Satan punishes another character by making realistic-looking breasts grow out of his head, and in subsequent scenes they get fondled by other characters. A character is a weird transvestite who pours hot wax on his chest and plays with his nipples. A voyeur gets sent to hell. A character eats a marijuana-laced cake. The devils lower the drinking age to 10, and we see drunken children coming out of a bar (and puking). They also change New York's tourism slogan to "I love hookers." And there are some jokes that can be interpreted as homophobic.

  • Comic violence, including body parts falling off.
  • Sexual humor, including transvestite, S&M, voyeur, dog sex, etc.
  • Very strong language for a PG-13.

What's the story?

Adam Sandler plays Nicky, the third son of a loving father who happens to be Satan (Harvey Keitel). The two older sons (wrestling star Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr., and Notting Hill's wacky roommate Rhys Ifans) are furious that Satan will not allow one of them take over as commander-in-chief of hell, so they decide to leave and form their own Hell in New York City. Unless Little Nicky can get them back home within a week, their father will literally fall apart. So even though he has never been to earth before, he goes to New York to try to bring them back. A talking guardian bulldog is there to help. Little Nicky learns important lessons about life on earth, from eating and sleeping to staying out of the way of heavy moving metal things. He also learns about the butterflies in the stomach feeling he gets from talking to a pretty girl (Patricia Arquette) and some other feelings he gets from eating a cake laced with marijuana. And he learns something about who he really is and how powerful he can be.


Is it any good?

 

There are two kinds of Adam Sandler movies: the kind where he plays a complete idiot and uses a (supposedly) funny voice through it all and the kind where he just plays a sweet doofus with his regular voice. Generally, those regular voice movies (Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, and The Wedding Singer) are more broadly appealing than the funny voice movies, like The Waterboy. Although LITTLE NICKY is in the funny-voice category, it benefits from higher production values and a strong supporting cast and ranks as one of the better Sandler movies. That voice gets extremely annoying very quickly, though -- like after the first thirty seconds.

The plot is just an excuse, of course, for a lot of low-wattage jokes, usually repeated for no additional benefit. But the movie is enlivened by some funny cameos (Rodney Dangerfield as Satan's father, Reese Witherspoon as an angel, Henry Winkler as himself, and a surprise visit by a rock star). Sandler fans will enjoy it, but it will not have the cross-over appeal of The Wedding Singer.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about the idea of a "balance between good and evil." Is there a balance? Why? They may also want to talk about their own ideas about heaven and hell.


This review was written by Nell Minow
Parent
March 24, 2010
 
Ok movie but not for anyone below high school
Along with the stuff listed at the top I wanted to add a bit on consumerism. I'm not sure as to the reason why nothing was listed because they have an extremely noticeable Popeyes product placement along with Kmart although there is one scene where Nicky "unleashes his evil" on a can of Coke...and turns it in to Pepsi. Not sure who exactly they are plugging there. =) Fairly funny tho LOTS of sex (language, imagery etc) and a bit gory.

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Teen, 15 years old
April 9, 2008
 
A comedy. And a good one too!
Little Nicky is a film about one of the devils sons coming to Earth to bring back his two brothers to Hell and save his father from de-materialising. This film has some iffy moments that parents should be aware of, e.g Nicky says the F word and there are a wide variety of S word uses throughout the film, there is a bit of violence, but nothing that bad. Characters eat a cake filled with Marawana and some of the characters drink. Also, Nicky and the other characters are not generally nice to each other, the only two characters that are nice to each other throughout the film are Nicky and his Dad.

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Teen, 16 years old
December 20, 2010
 
Little Nicky
I think it is a preety good movie, because it's really funny. I think there isn't a big problem about any thing. Parents can let there kids watch it because it is a family movie. The most important positive message was at the end of movie when Little NIcky's niceness took over the evilness of his brothers and saved the people. The only little problem it had was violence, but it's not a big issue. Overall the movie was good.

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Kid, 13 years old
February 12, 2010
 
best for the older kids
this is a great comedy. some bad things are language and things i clicked also some of the things that they do are creepy ing a very creepy way like cover someone in bees and it looks real.

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Parent
December 14, 2009
 
Little Nicky
Absolutly hilarious. My favortie movie from Adam Sandler. Might seem inappropriate for most adults, concerning the whole religious thing, but if that is put aside, humor will be found.

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Teen, 16 years old
October 2, 2009
 
Ehhhh no prob.
Ehhh at 12 and 13 you hear the same things in school as you do in this movie, so its really no problem

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler always releases a good movie. This may be his worst movie but it is still a great movie. I don't think you should let your 5 year olds watch it though.

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Adult
October 10, 2010
 
Outstanding, but definitely should have been R
This movie is absolutely hilarious and original. Although, there are two things to take into account parents: 1) this movie is very, very irreverent, although some spots are clean (barely, though); and 2) this movie is R-rating raunchy. I can't believe this turned out to be PG-13. What I would have rated it: R for Strong Crude Sexual Humor Throughout, Language, some Drug Use and Aberrant Images. Bottom Line: This is an awesome movie, with loads of funny humor, but it is extremely offensive, so take caution. Thanks for reading! - Movie Man

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Teen, 17 years old
July 29, 2011
 
My dad had me watching this at 8
If you want to shelter your kids, don't let them watch it. If you trust your children and you think they're smart enough to know this stuff by now, let them watch it.

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This review was written by Nell Minow
Studio:New Line
Director:Steven Brill
Cast:Adam Sandler, Harvey Keitel, Patricia Arquette
Genre:Comedy
Run time:90 minutes
Theatrical release date:November 10, 2000
DVD release date:April 24, 2001
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:crude sexual humor, some drug content, language and thematic material

This review was written by Nell Minow
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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