Little

An absolutely abhorrent piece of work, Little follows hard-as-nails businesswoman Jordan Sanders (Regina Hall) as she’s magically transformed into the adolescent version of herself – with the change empowering Jordan’s long-suffering assistant (Issa Rae’s April Williams) to finally begin going after the things she really wants (and deserves). It’s an agreeable premise that’s employed to consistently (and aggressively) bottom-of-the-barrel effect by filmmaker Tina Gordon Chism, as the director delivers a seriously one-dimensional and increasingly grating comedy that’s devoid of genuine laughs or compelling characters – with the latter proving especially problematic given that every single protagonist has been painted with as broad and over-the-top brush as one could possibly envision (ie these people make Tyler Perry’s heroes look subtle and subdued by comparison). There’s little doubt, as well, that the picture’s excessively overlong running time contributes heavily to its atmosphere of complete and total atrociousness, as screenwriters Tracy Oliver and Gordon Chism, in addition to placing an egregious emphasis on eye-rollingly hoary conventions and tropes, have padded out the thin narrative to such an extent that it takes forever for the central character’s transformation to happen. It perhaps goes without saying that Gordon Chism even manages to bungle the seemingly foolproof assortment of body-switching elements, including (and especially) Jordan’s initial foray into the world after being turned into her younger self (ie who leaves their home without looking into a mirror once?) The interminable vibe is exacerbated by the ongoing inclusion of misguided sequences and subplots (eg there’s a whole thing involving Jordan’s enrollment at a local school that’s nothing short of disastrous), and it goes without saying, certainly, that the movie’s endless climax is hardly able to pack the crowd-pleasing punch that Gordon Chism is obviously going for – with the end result an entirely misbegotten endeavor that squanders a seemingly can’t-miss setup to a degree that’s nothing short of shocking.

no stars out of ****