Sometimes what you really need is a low budget comedy with an all-star cast, am I right? You know I am. After a long hard day, do you really want a 4-hour epic? Or do you want a 108 minute easy watch? These are all really easy questions to answer, and exactly why I chose Little on this day.
Starring the ever-delightful Issa Rae, Little is a sweet little comedy about a high-flying businesswoman named Jordan (Regina Hall) who suddenly wakes up one day to find she has reverted back to her thirteen year old self. Her assistant, April (Issa Rae) is the only other human in the world who knows that the kid walking around (played fabulously by black•ish star Marsai Martin) is actually her boss. The two of them navigate their lives as normally as possible whilst trying to get Jordan back to her actual size… until a social services worker turns up and asks them why this extremely fashionable child is not in school.
Personally, I really wanted this to be amazing because Issa Rae and Regina Hall are a match made in heaven. Turns out it was just a run-of-the-mill comedy, but that’s fine! There’s some overly harsh criticism when it comes to this film, but it really is over-zealous; Little isn’t supposed to be the world’s best movie, it’s just meant to be pure fun. And it is.
In all honesty, it takes a while to get going and it’s glaringly obvious that they just wanted to give Hall more screen time by stretching her part out a bit. Then, once it does get going, there’s not one moment that you won’t see coming. However, Marsai Martin is such a star that she makes the whole movie completely worth watching. She has such fabulous comedic timing that emanates through the screen at such a young age. Just brilliant.
I won’t pretend that the premise is particularly original and it hasn’t all been done before. I mean, it’s basically a reverse version of Big but with entertaining black women, there’s no two ways about it. But you know what? There are a bunch of laughs to be had here… and it’s much better than Issa Rae’s other recent movie Lovebirds, that’s for sure.
Furthermore, in regards to the narrative, I couldn’t figure out if they ran out of story to tell or if they tried to pack too much story in in the first place. Either way, I wish it was 10 minutes shorter. Thankfully, the lead performances are excellent and the characters are very likeable, which is more than I can say for a lot of similar movies with men in the leading roles.
In short, it’s all pretty standard, but it’s not a total train wreck. Plus it’s definitely one of the better soundtracks I’ve come across in a comedy. All in all, good but not great.
Little is available to stream on Netflix in the UK.
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