Little ★★★☆☆ | Movie Review

Synopsis


Jordan has picked on the wrong person, her bullying just won't cut it with little Stevie. One wave of Stevie's magic wander and Jordan Sanders is going to wake up with a very different outlook on life.


Review


Can we just acknowledge the fact that Marsai Martin actually pitched this movie? She also has a credit as executive producer. She's 14... 14!!

Yet another film where we know what's going to happen, in this instance it's not a problem.

Jordan has made her way up to being the boss and she's made it her mission not to be pushed around anymore. But that attitude means that she's universally despised in the office. When she encounters a young girl in the office she lays out some hard truths for her about life, and when Stevie takes out her magic wand and wishes Jordan was little again I don't think anyone could see what was coming. (Apart from us movie folk.)

We follow little Jordan and her assistant, April, as they try to navigate life, school, the office and men. The ride is a bit crazy.

Marsai Martin steals the show, she has a knack for the adult characteristics and takes to the comedy so naturally.

Issa Rae was a bit of an unknown entity to me despite having seen her in The Hate U Give. Her character of April seemed to be just the right level of down to earth and crazy to be able to deal with such a bizarre situation and overall I thought she came across well in all aspects apart from one which I'll come to in a bit.

Regina Hall is a favourite of mine and I could see why she was right for this part and she nailed pre-little Jordan. Post-little Jordan though was not to my liking. She seemed to be very badly written. Somehow her epiphany moment didn't stick, all it seemed to do was make her awkward in a whole new way.

Let's talk about the rom in this rom-com... why did they put it in? Firstly we have Justin Hartley, I'll give you a moment to remember Ty Swindel... you'd be forgiven for thinking he had a big part in this film, the trailer makes it look like he's a love interest for April but in the end his role was nothing more than trying to "liven up"  the portions of the film that were based at the school.

Next there's the lovely Preston, April's co-worker, who is just the sweetest thing. You know that they're meant to be together but the script has other ideas. It drags out and at no point do they properly develop that part of the story. We get to the end and it's there suddenly, I seriously wondered if there was a scene cut out in editing that made it connect or if they'd just forgotten about it. Either way it ruined an otherwise good run for April in the film.

Lastly there's Trevor, Jordan's love interest... he is dumb as a box of rocks but they've given him a sweet side. He assumes that Jordan has been hiding the fact that she's got a daughter and that's why she's guarded, cue some sweet, if weird, overcompensation... but here's the thing, once Jordan gets big again why is he still there? How does she explain away the whole child thing? We're not going to talk about it? Oh, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

Little doesn't hit all the comedy spots, and there are certainly scenes that don't seem to have any relevance (karaoke at the restaurant I'm looking at you) but it's still funny. I didn't find it as funny as the woman across the aisle from me who on several occasions let out a very loud and extended "HAAAAAAA!", but it was entertaining.

What you should do


Watch this one when it streams, it's mindless fun and you really don't have to think a lot. I'm sure it'd be good for a girls night in.

Movie thing you wish you could take home


Homegirl seems like a great idea, especially if she knows when I need a musical pick me up.

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