– “You know, too much caffeine can stunt your growth.”
-“Does this…look stunted to you?”
–“It depends. How old are you?”
–“Thirty-eight.”
–“Then, yes. Yes, it does.”
Little tells the story about Jordan Sanders, a president of a tech firm who after treating her subordinates in a disrespectful manner, a young girl turns Jordan into a little kid. Now little Jordan must rely on her assistant, April, to help her through this awkward transformation. The media made a big deal about actress Marsai Martin, because she was the one who came up with this story idea. Now, she is the youngest person to ever be an executive producer on a movie. After seeing the trailers, I thought this film was going to be funny, even if it was just a little funny. However, Little easily shows us why young people are not meant to be the creative force behind a film. Little, much like so many of the comedic films that have been released lately, ended up being a huge disappointment.
My overall disappointment lies with, I guess you can say, the marketing for the film. From the trailers it looked like a regular adult comedy with many humorous parts. However, this film was funny at the beginning and at the end. But most of all, it turned into a movie for young kids. The adolescent drama, thrown in with the story of constant bullying from other classmates, made me think I was watching a straight to DVD film centered in the halls of middle school. I blame the other majority of the mistakes on the writing – and the directing – because the actors in the film were doing their best with what they had. The funny scenes at the beginning and the end are short lived as there is just this huge lull of nonsense in the middle. 
It was as if the screenwriters Tracy Oliver and Tina Gordon came together and wrote a decent beginning and end, but were lost with what to put in the middle. So then they just made up a bunch of crap to fill the length of the film. Regina Hall, whose absence in the middle of the film is sadly missed, added a lot of the humor at the beginning and end. With the character of Jordan being little, Issa Rae, who plays April, keeps the movie afloat. Rae shocks the life back into this film in order for it to seem even semi-funny. I would love Rae to lend her comedic talents to more movies, because even as dismissible as Little is, her talents are hard to miss. And last but not least, because she’s in the majority of the movie, Martin comes off as the same character that she always plays. Martin’s character in Little is basically the same character she plays in Blackish. Martin adds nothing new to a movie that is already incredibly predictable.
Little, inspired by Tom Hanks’ Big, does not come anywhere close to the 80’s classic. As compared to other comedies that have been released in the last year, it’s pretty much the same thing. Little is definitely a film that you can pass up at the movie theaters and be happy you didn’t have to pay at least $10 to see it. This is a movie you watch at home, or not bother to watch at all. There have been worse comedic films, and Little does have its brief comedic moments. But between the heavy handed adolescent storylines, and the fishing for jokes, Little is a movie to pass on.
Little
Directed by: Tina Gordon
Starring: Regina Hall, Issa Rae, and Marsai Martin
Rating:
Little Movie Reviews 