Little (Review)
Little is the Opposite of Big in Every Way.
I’m usually on board for a good body swapping movie and was willing to give Little a chance after seeing the trailer a few times. After all, it features two actresses whose comedic work I’ve enjoyed a number of times over the years, Regina Hall and Issa Rae. It seemed like a great way to spend an evening watching a movie that was just good old fashioned mindless fun. Well, Little managed to get the mindless part right for the most part. Fun though? I wouldn’t go that far with it.
The film follows a brilliant tech mogul, Jordan Sanders, played by Regina Hall (who I know best for her work from the Scary Movie franchise) who has dedicated her life to avoid bullies by being a becoming one. So, the universe decides to teach her a lesson by having her transform overnight back into her middle school self (Marsai Martin). Desperate to find a solution, she turns to her assistant, April Williams, (Issa Rae) to help her figure out what happened and help run her company while she tries to find a way to return to her former body. It sounds like a pretty funny film on paper, but in reality, Little stumbles and struggles to find its footing as it puts a spin on the classic body swapping motif.
Typically these kinds of movies track a character’s growth as they learn a valuable lesson that inevitably returns them to their former life. Most fall along the lines of learning to appreciate everything they have or learning not to be such a huge jerk. Little at least recognizes this tradition, but the character’s journey is lackluster at best. Jordan is an absolutely terrible person at the start of the film and seems to pride herself on being a huge bully. Hell, the younger version of herself dreamed of becoming a bully when she grew up after being bullied by other kids in middle school. So when the film tries to give her a grand revelation that nobody likes her, it feels pointless, especially given how “smart” her character is supposed to be. In fact, Jordan is pretty much a glorified misery monger whose character is never justified. More importantly, her redemption arc is never given the attention it deserves in order for Little to work. Instead, it juggles plot points between Jordan and April. The good news is that Aprils is a much more interesting character.
Issa Rae is easily the best part of Little. She plays a sheepish assistant who has been beaten into submission over the years by her boss. Of course, she’s so much more than an assistant with dreams and ideas (all be it terrible and shallow ones) of her own. Rae brings a genuine sense of humor and warmth to the character, making her easy to identify with and someone who I would have greatly enjoyed meeting in real life. In fact, I found myself almost annoyed with the moments where she wasn’t on screen throughout Little. I wasn’t a huge fan of hers before Little, but Rae won me over by the end. I’m excited to see where her career goes from here because if she can shine in something as mediocre as this movie, I’m sure she is destined for great things.
Little isn’t short on laughs, but a number of moments in the movie fall flat. As I mentioned Jordan is a pretty terrible person for the vast majority of the film and her schtick starts to wear thin after a while. That’s not the only recurring joke throughout the movie though as Jordan repeatedly forgets that’s she’s a child which leads to all sorts of awkward situations. Little repeatedly falls back on these recurring jokes and slowly bludgeons them to death. The few moments that do shine feel almost out of place and almost tacked on as an afterthought. It all feels a little jumbled and unfocused as a film overall, especially in the comedic aspects.
Overall, Little is nothing to write home about. It’s a pretty standard comedy that never really manages to make itself memorable. The one thing that the film has going for it is Rae, and to a certain extent Martin (though a number of her scenes are awkward for all the wrong reasons). It earned a few laughs from me, but not enough for me to recommend anyone go out of their way to see it. Little is a film probably best left for a rainy day when it can be streamed from the comfort of your own home. It’s hardly a film worth a trek to the theater for.
