Wii Nunchuck + Arduino = WTF!?!?!

Have you tried different addresses? I'm not sure how nintendo protocol works.. but there may be multiple addresses that are capable. (maybe for multiple controllers?)

Try something like 0x50, 0x53, 0x51.. anything that's near.. Maybe something a bit more extreme, but it'll have to be within 0-127, so shouldn't take too long to figure out if that's the issue.