Went to see the new comedy Little… which is a body-swap movie whose title suggests Big in reverse. Because it is… it’s about an adult woman who gets hit with a magical whammy and reverts to her early teenage self. It’s a risk referencing Big, one of the best comedies, when you yourself can’t really rise to that level. And this movie does not.
The flick stars Regina Hall as a super angry mean boss for a tech company who gets her just desserts when a little girl she’s bullying casts a magic spell on her. She wakes up a teenager and has to send her put-upon assistant (Issa Rae) to the office while she is forced back to jr. high. Can the assistant rise to the occasion and can the little girl version of the boss deal with the mean girls and dorks in high school?
Eh… I guess so. This is kind of an overstuffed movie for having such a simple premise. Overstuffed and kind of predictable… but ultimately well acted. Not particularly funny, at least not in my book. But the thirteen year old version of the adult – played by Marsai Martin – is really good at playing older than her age. I gather she’s done similar work on the sitcom Blackish… a show I’ve not seen.
Random aside – this is a PG-13 movie… and really skirts the edge of what’s appropriate for kids. In fact, my theater was full of children (who were probably under 13) and the tone had to get a little awkward for the parents. It’s not a PG… probably should have noticed that (incidentally, I was talking to the ticket sellers and they were telling me that the aggressively R rated Hellboy was getting a lot of kids too).
Overall, this is a decent comedy but probably not one anyone needs to rush out to see. There are plenty of body swap movies – including Shazam – that are better flicks. About all this has going for it is some good acting in an otherwise kind of bland looking and only marginally funny comedy.
Score: 72