287 Little; movie review

LITTLE
Cert 12A
109 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate sex references, language

Apparently, Marsai Martin watched one of her mum's favourite films when she was ten years old and came up with the concept of Little.
Yep, she watched Tom Hanks in Big and thought "what if the roles were reversed and they related to a black woman and girl."
And, hey presto, she has become the youngest producer of a mainstream movie in Hollywood history.
Did it really happen like that? Seems a bit unbelievable doesn't it? After all, it's not as if she had come up with an intoxicating new formula.
Anyway, Martin stars as a teenager who has a torrid time at school but hardens up to become a bullying businesswoman (Regina Hall) in later life.
Hall's character is so repulsive that a little girl casts a spell and her and condemns her to be 'Little' again.
The result is that the grown woman is in a young girl's body (and giant hair) and has to go to school instead of running her business.
Thus, she is forced to leave her company in the hands of her hard-pressed but talented personal assistant (Issa Rae).
Inevitably, everyone is thrust well out of their comfort zone and comedy is elicited from an adult being seen by the rest of the world as a geeky teenager.
Actually, Tina Gordon's film tries to be funny but isn't. Hall's angry executive is so unlikable it is impossible to empathise with her and even as a teenager, the character lacks charm.
It may be modelled on Big but Little lacks its wide-eyedness. There is far too much unnecessary aggressive shouting.
During Big I was willing on Josh and marvelling at how a child's simple vision could gel in an adult world.
On this evidence, it doesn't work the other way around.

Reasons to watch: If you are a fan of of body transformation comedies
Reasons to avoid: Little certainly ain't no Big 

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know?  The number of women-owned businesses in the United States grew an impressive 58 per cent from 2007 to 2018 and those owned by black women grew by a stunning 164 per cent. There were 2.4 million African American women-owned businesses in 2018.

The final word. Marsai Martin: "There are a lot of messages in the film that I want people to take in, but one of them is just about second chances. I mean, Jordan's second chance is an extreme case, but at the end of it, it was just finding her true self and going back to who she really is because she thought she had to change to be accepted." Pop Sugar

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