PERFORMANCE PERSPECTIVES

"Little Nicky"
LOOKING INWARDS TO FIND THE DEVIL.

This review was written in January 2001 but is being published now as "Little Nicky" is now available on videotape.

Yesterday I nearly ran into ADAM SANDLER. It was quite a surprise. A very large bus came round the corner and as I was swerving to miss it there was ADAM SANDLER. It was unmistakably him. He was smiling directly at me. Not quite life size but very large - a photo of him promoting the movie "Little Nicky" had been stuck to the side of the bus.

He looked cute. I am sure that's what he was trying to do - look cute. But he looked cute in the way a photographic model works rather than the way an actor works. Models tend to focus on themselves - they adopt the right pose, to create the right image. Their energy is going inwards. Actors look outward. They place themselves in real situations with some real goal to achieve. Actors create complex and active images, models are often clichéd and inert. These are broad generalizations I know but they contain a simple truth.

Of course "Little Nicky" is a cute movie. So, isn't it appropriate for ADAM SANDLER to act 'cute'? Certainly he does his best to create a character that is likable and honest. And, in the film as in the promotional photo, we read ADAM'S intentions clearly. But they are not complex images - Nicky is more of a cartoon character. And yes, it is a cartoon like story. So, do cartoon characters need to be created through complex performances? It's a devil of a question!

Interestingly HARVEY KEITEL manages to be cartoon-like and complex. He is also cute, likable, powerful and devilish. He achieves these results through the active things he does not by posing or arranging himself.

Of course it is always easy to criticize. ADAM has quite a lot to contend with in this film in terms of the physical demands of his role - he is kept busy by the demanding physical task of constantly contorting his face. Maybe this is a situation where the effort that goes into maintaining the physical aspects of the character distracts the actor from achieving other basic goals.

JANUARY 01

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