By Paul Hall
Being in charge changes people, money changes people, and those changes are not always for the better. Such is the case in the new film Little, in theaters now.
Jordan Sanders (Regina Hall) is in charge. As the owner and founder of Jordan Sanders International (JSI), she has taken control of everything in her life. She has the perfect apartment, uses the money she has come into to get everything she wants and has an assistant, April Williams (Issa Rae), whom she derides every chance she gets.
On a fateful day at the office, a young girl curses Jordan by transforming her into a younger version of herself. She retains all of her current knowledge but physically appears to be the 13-year-old Jordan who was once bullied. Young Jordan (Marsai Martin) will now have to cope yet again with a period of time that was unkind to her, with April serving as her surrogate guardian. For Jordan, it is time to realize that sometimes it takes getting little to really grow up.
So you’re thinking we’ve seen this before, right? Yes, we have. We’ve seen similar structure and format in films like Big and, more recently, Shazam!, but those films dealt with younger individuals who grew up. In this case, our lead character Jordan takes all of today’s knowledge back to her awkward, younger age. This movie doesn’t happen without the talents of Martin. A delight onscreen, she is able to bring all of grown Jordan’s attitude to an awkward teenager.
Unfortunately, much of this film doesn’t resonate as well as others. Adult Jordan’s vicious character feels over the top and out of place, as who would work for someone this tyrannical? Hall plays it well but is hardly around. Rae is not given the chance to really explore her talents as much as I would have liked, but the movie is pleasant enough to experience.
I wanted more for the film given the talents involved, but much of Little fell flat for me. There is more that could have been explored here and more fun that should have been had by all.
In the end, Little comes up short on being the fun romp that I hoped for; watching it felt like slogging through a workday of the employees at JSI in the movie. There is some to like here, but ultimately it does not grow into a truly memorable film.
Paul’s Grade: C-
Little
Rated PG-13
Stars: Regina Hall, Issa Rae, Marsai Martin
Director: Tina Gordon Chism
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