Little Nicky MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -4

In this comic fantasy, hell is run like a Mafia family business. Satan (Harvey Keitel) tells his three sons, Cassius, Adrian and Nicky (Tommy Lister, Jr., Rhys Ifans and Adam Sandler) he intends to rule for another 10,000 years. Angry because he didnt turn the family business over to them, Cassius and Adrian escape hell to "raise Cain" in New York City. Satan cannot survive without his three sons, so he sends kind, gentle Nicky to bring them back. Nicky doesnt really like his home or doing bad things to people. His mother is an angel named Holly (Reece Witherspoon), who met Satan at a heaven-hell mixer, which explains Nicky's sweet nature. Cassius and Adrian turn New York City upside down as they use their occult powers to possess a Catholic priest, the mayor, an NBA referee, plus hundreds of other citizens. While searching for his brothers with the help of a talking bulldog, Nicky falls in love with Valerie (Patricia Arquette) and ultimately has to choose heaven or hell. LITTLE NICKY is a sick insult to the public's intelligence with irreverent, offensive sophomoric humor, but Sandlers popularity will still attract a crowd.

Reflecting a spiritually-confused, distorted view of Heaven and Hell, LITTLE NICKY is filled with so many disgusting details its impossible to fit them all in this space. Satan states his job is balancing good with evil he's in control, but his strength is sapped when his evil sons run amuck. He zaps his irritating henchman, causing each to grow breasts on their bald heads. And a large bird simulates sex with a new resident. Hitler, dressed in a voluminous maid's outfit, dutifully bends over so Satan can sexually assault him with a huge pineapple. In New York, a transvestite dressed in revealing woman's underwear stands at the window massaging his chest. And the devil-possessed mayor opens saloons to children, so youngsters stagger out of bars to throw up on the sidewalk. Non-stop slapstick-type violence shows Nicky and his brothers pushing each other in front of trains, slamming into buses and falling from great heights. In one scene, a man forces his hand up his nose and pulls one of the brothers out. Angels in heaven are portrayed as silly, giggling teenagers. Twenty-one obscenities, crude terms for genitals and obscene gestures add to the revulsion. LITTLE NICKY, targeting immature teenagers with its PG-13 rating, ridicules religion, God's sovereignty, and social decency.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: New Line Cinema, 888 7th Ave., 20th Flr., NY, NY 10106