The moment Beefy the bulldog opened his mouth to speak, I knew that Steven Brill?s latest comedy, “Little Nicky” was all down hill from there.

Despite a large talented cast led by Adam Sandler, the film never really took off and met its full potential.

Don?t get me wrong die-hard Sandler fans who are now cursing this writer, parts of “Little Nicky” were gut-busting hilarious, but all in all, the movie was really bad.

Sandler plays shy and awkward Nicky, a guy with a love for heavy metal music, a speech impediment and two bullies for older brothers. Also, Satan is Nicky?s father (played by Harvey Keitel) and their family living room happens to be Hell.

The plot begins during Satan?s 10,000th year of rule, when he contemplates passing down his evil throne to one of his sons. When Satan decides that instead he will rule for another 10,000 years, his two oldest sons (Rhys Ifans and Tommy Lister Jr.) rebel by escaping the Gates of Hades to go create Hell on earth, where they plan to rule.

By leaving, the brothers disrupt the natural order of things, which causes their dad, the Devil, to lose his power and slowly die.

Nicky is forced to leave Hell and bring back his brothers, restoring the balance between good and evil. Nicky?s only help on this mission is the guidance of Beefy, the talking dog.

As the trip to earth is Nicky?s first time being human, he must learn the weirdness and wonders of human life, including eating, sleeping, using a bathroom and with the help of Valerie (played by Patricia Arquette), falling in love. He also quickly learns that he must avoid deadly moving objects, such as the city bus, as he was killed and sent back to hell several times.

After living in the fiery land down under, earth seems extremely cold to Nicky, so his fashion includes skiwear and puffy jackets from Kmart.

Nicky?s discoveries and interactions with earthlings are all very funny, however his dealings with his brothers were downright corny. Comedians are not meant to fight evil.

At one point in the movie, Nicky?s character escaped evil by breaking up into thousands of little spiders topped with his human head. This is when I questioned my presence in the movie theater, and contemplated walking out.

The concept of hell was very unique in this film. Instead of the devil corrupting souls, he acts more as the prison warden in a jail for bad people. Of course he also punishes prisoners in ways that they deserve. For example, a sex offender is now doomed to an eternity of being chased by a big horny blackbird.

I was certainly disappointed in the film, “Little Nicky,” particularly because of the all-star cast that included “Saturday Night Live” comics Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Jon Lovitz and Rob Schneider. Other cameo appearances included Reese Witherspoon (Nicky?s angelic mother), Quentin Tarantino, Rodney Dangerfield and Regis Philbin. With talents like those, “Little Nicky” should have been something special. What could have been a great comedy ended up being stupid humor.

Luckily for “Little Nicky,” every now and then the world needs a little stupid humor.

Unfortunately this Adam Sandler fan wanted more. I need to know what the writers were thinking by including Beefy, the talking dog, in the script. Giving animals a voice is sure to doom any adult film.

This movie gets two out of five Frank Sinatras–normally I might give this film one Sinatra, but I am giving it an Adam Sandler bonus Sinatra because he is just that funny.