Little (2019) - Movie Review

This is gonna be somewhat of a redemptive piece for me, since technically, I should have seen this movie already. I was supposed to see this movie earlier in the week for FilmInk, but due to… well, let’s be honest, me screwing up, I didn’t get to the preview screening. This isn’t going to be in any official capacity, and I do try and watch every movie I can anyway, but out of a sense of professional pride (stop laughing), I had to get this film out of the way first.

That said, having now sat through this, I can’t help but be a little thankful that I missed out the first time around because, if I went to the preview screening, I likely would’ve sent my editor a page covered in my own arterial spray as my write-up. Yes, I type out all of my reviews, but trust me, I would’ve found a way to do that regardless because that is how painful this thing is to sit through.

The latest story involving an adult being stuck in the body of a child, this film finds itself already stuck in an awkward position because it has to make the main character blatantly flawed, yet still engaging enough to see a whole film about. They only manage to get the first half of that right. Regina Hall certainly deserves her recent surge in popularity thanks to Girls Trip, as she should be remembered for more than Scary Movie, but this script is not a good step forward for her.

She’s unlikeable, most certainly, but it’s not even the fun kind of unlikeable that makes for good hate-watch value. Instead, she just ends up being a near-literal stunted woman-child who needs to learn a lesson. Most films break down to main characters needing to learn something, but usually, the lesson itself is presented in a way that makes it fun to watch. Or interesting. Or something that doesn’t make me roll my eyes so hard that I can map out my own frontal lobe.

Which is really a shame because this is what Marsai Martin as her younger self has to work from, and she is genuinely good in this. While I question the legitimacy of her credit as an executive producer on this film (DJ Khaled once listed his eight-month-old son as an executive producer on one of his albums, so forgive my scepticism), her performance shows a staggering amount of moxie and confidence that makes that credit weirdly believable. And when paired with Issa Rae as the hard-done-by assistant, they can make for some pretty cool moments.

However, those moments are few and far between, since this film is far more fixated on dead air and skin-peeling awkwardness to drive its comedy. I can’t even begin to get into just how tedious this can get, to the point where the only real positive I can give for how this story is handled is that they thankfully avoided the stupid “repeat what I’m saying through this earpiece” gag, one of the dumbest clichés in all of cinema. Everything else here is just lame with a side order of irritating, which doesn’t help with the ultimate point of this whole thing.

As with pretty much any narrative where a main character has to go to school, this film’s big message is one about being yourself and not letting other people define you through belittlement. It’s honestly not that bad an idea, and the further push of how much that belittlement can figuratively stunt people emotionally gives the main premise of this a semblance of bite. But at the end of the day, it comes down to presentation, since this isn’t exactly a new idea. Hell, there’s a movie out right now with the same adult/child swap dichotomy that’s blazing through the box office; it can still be done well, regardless of wear and tear.

This, though, feels like it has good intentions but really doesn’t know how to make them a reality. The lesson itself is plain and through some highly questionable story decisions (having the 13-year-old hitting on her teacher and leering at one of the most perplexing stripping sequences I can recall seeing is too gross for words), it comes across like an act of telling, not showing. It not being funny ends up coming in second place next to how this whole thing is mishandled to a degree that robs it of any agency. It sticks too long with annoying people into hysterics, and by the time its heart shows itself, it’s already far too late.