MMT Quick Review: LITTLE

Imagine waking up in the morning as your 13-year-old self and not being able to return to your current age until you’ve rectified a past issue/wrong/event. What would you need to work on? Would you recognize the moment(s) when it arose? And would you have the courage to confront the situation over? These are the questions faced by the lead character in the newest body-swap comedy LITTLE, starring Regina Hall (Girls Trip) as Jordan Sanders, Marsai Martin (Black*ish) as her younger version, and Issa Rae (Insecure) in a hilarious turn as Jordan’s employee/assistant/punching bag.

In the film, Sanders (Hall) is a no-nonsense “boss” in the meanest sense of the word, and one that is not against making employees cower and cry in the office of the tech business (JS Innovations) she runs. Driven by the bullying in her childhood, and dead set on being the one to beat anyone to the punch in adulthood, she runs over others until an uncanny incident with a kid puts her in a position to once again come face to face with past issues.

Enter Marsai Martin, who at 14-years-old has made history as the youngest executive producer of a film and nails the grown comedy timing that has made her so popular and spot-on on “Black*ish.”

Hall has definitely demonstrated her comedic senses in past films like “About Last Night” and “Girls Trip,” and Martin brought a lot of the funny as well, but it was Issa Rae who made me cackle the most and who I believe stole the show. To be fair, Rae was the humorous adult character for most of the film and in all honesty “Little” is definitely more of a Tween movie – I would say for mature 10-year-olds and older.

Admittedly, I was a little bored at times – the movie tended to slow in some spots – but the funny always picked back up and the eye candy was amazing… ahem, I mean the male actors were very well cast. 😉 This clip with Rae and Hall best explains my friend and I’s fluctuating emotions during the viewing:

Overall, even though I felt the movie lulled at times, I enjoyed the themes of kids knowing who they are/what’s inside them, anti-bullying and not allowing the world’s influences to hinder your true self. I also enjoyed the “black girl magic” displayed on and behind the camera, with director Tina Gordon (Peeples, Drumline) and a story penned by Gordon and Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip).

In short, “Little” is a mostly enjoyable film filled with big (pun intended in two ways, since BIG is the film that inspired this concept) laughs and a sweet message that certainly fills a needed void in the Tween film universe. I would rate it a 3 out of 5 beats on the MMTrometer.

You can check out the clip below with Marsai Martin and Issa Rae talking about the film’s inspiration and its messaging, and get additional info (including showtimes and tickets) at the official website here.

Until next thought, Thomasena