‘Little’: Young Marsai Martin Turns In A Star-Making Performance In Funny, But Flawed, Reverse-‘Big’ [Review]

Though 14-year-old “Black-ish” actress Marsai Martin stars here alongside bigger names like Regina Hall and Issa Rae, “Little” is literally Martin’s movie. She pitched the concept to producer Will Packer at age 10 and earned her executive producer credit, becoming the youngest person in Hollywood to do so. But it isn’t just the idea that makes “Little” hers–it’s the young actress’ performance that fully owns this studio comedy, taking over the screen with admirable confidence every second she’s in the frame. I have two decades of life experience on the star, and I was taking notes on how to be a boss from her example. But despite her amusing story idea and howlingly funny performance, Martin can’t save “Little” from its larger problems that an adult should’ve handled.

Jordan Sanders (Hall) is the type of company leader that usually only white men and Anna Wintour are allowed to be. At her Atlanta tech company, she’s a mercurial bully, whose moods are made all the worse by her lack of carbs. Her assistant, April (Rae), panics when she hears her boss’s signature ringtone, living in fear of the brilliant, but brutal, queen who sits on an ergonomic throne. But it isn’t just her employees who are the object of her ire; Jordan yells at adorable aspiring magician Stevie (Marley Taylor) for simply being a kid. “Were you always mean?” Stevie asks. “I got big and I got rich,” Jordan responds. Stevie makes a wish, turning the 38-year-old entrepreneur into the awkward geek she was at 13.

Young Jordan (Martin) is stymied by her lack of power–and legal ability to sip some rosé when she’s feeling stressed. April agrees to help her, and she steps in for her boss at the office while Jordan goes to school like 13-year-olds are legally required to do. She makes eyes at her hunky teacher Mr. Marshall (Justin Hartley) and tries to help a trio of fellow young outcasts (JD McCrary, Tucker Meek, and Thalia Tran) survive middle school, while finding time to learn a lot of lessons she should have learned the first time around.

“Little” has more feel-good messages than a bag of Dove Promises, and each one has the same amount of staying power as those foil platitudes. Be yourself, we’re told. Don’t be a bully, it says. Shine theory is real, we learn. Be confident, it proclaims. These aren’t bad ideas in moderation, but “Little” is extra, packing in the positivity and obscuring the impact of any single theme. The script from director Tina Gordon and “Girls Trip” scribe Tracy Oliver is as unfocused as though the screenplay itself came from a 13-year-old’s sugar-addled mind, bouncing around without any concern for coherence. The editing also doesn’t help: multiple scenes have key moments missing that feel like they were in the script, but were cut, perhaps due to MPAA rating reasons. What’s left feels disjointed: we’re suddenly thrust from a moment in a restaurant where April denies young Jordan a sip of her fancy red wine, then the movie cuts to Jordan draped across the bar, clearly drunk and beginning an impromptu duet to Mary J. Blige‘s “I’m Going Down.” It feels so random and utterly out of place within both the scene and the film, but this moment would have been hard for Gordon to trash because it certainly sparks joy.

There is a lot of fun here: Hall’s perfectly bitchy turn as adult Jordan, Rae’s flawless delivery of each line she’s given, Danielle Hollowell’s costume design, the enviable make-up (do you think I can pull off colored mascara?), and the blatantly female, blatantly thirsty gaze at a trio of men in the film. We give “This Is Us” star Hartley the same gooey, adoring looks that 13-year-old Jordan does, and adult Jordan’s hook-up Trevor (Luke James) does the best male sexy/funny striptease this side of “Magic Mike XXL.” Meanwhile, Rae’s April literally trips over herself while talking to handsome engineer Preston (Tone Bell), and the audience sighs in agreement. This movie may be a mess, but it knows its audience.

“Little” is a blast, but it’s a shame that it’s not a better movie. Clearly, inspired by Tom Hanks‘ “Big,” “Little” is an outlier in decades of body swap comedies that have been made by, and for, white audiences. When she’s told of Jordan’s predicament, April even comments, “But that’s for white people. Because Black people don’t have the time.” But with its Black talent on and off screen, “Little” brings something new to the subgenre with the specificity of its characters’ experiences and its humor. These scenes resonate, despite being surrounded by a movie that doesn’t totally work.

“Little” is not a great, or even a very good, movie, but it’s full of wonderful moments, all boosted by the incredible talents of Martin, Rae, and Hall. I could’ve done with more screen time for Hall (as always), who’s had a particularly good couple of years between “Girls Trip” and “Support the Girls,” but by the nature of the film, that would’ve meant less Martin, which is not a sacrifice I am prepared to make. Just as Tom Hanks showed his range and comic chops by playing a kid trapped in an adult body in “Big,” she’s equally charming here doing the reverse. This should be a star-making performance, even if the film as a whole isn’t worthy of her talents. [C+]