Review: Little

The body-swap comedy isn't exactly something new, having deployed to varying results in films such as Freaky Friday, 13 Going on 30 and Big. When you have so familiar a premise, the burden falls upon the filmmakers to find fresh ways to execute the formula. Little isn't exactly a reinvention but, much like what Black Panther, Creed and Us did with superhero, sports and horror films respectively, it takes a tried-and-true and predominantly white genre and makes it an inclusive one by casting people of colour in all the key roles.

Credit Marsai Martin, who saw Big and wondered how it would work if it were about a 38-year-old black woman suddenly awakening to find herself as a 13-year-old middle-schooler instead of a white male middle-schooler wishing himself to be an adult. Martin, at the mere age of 14, is the youngest person to get a producing credit in a Hollywood studio film and she proves herself no mere gimmick. As she's proved in her five seasons on the television sitcom, Black-ish, Martin is self-possessed, brimming with star quality, and has no shortage of talent. Yet she's not the only one responsible for taking this slight and predictable film and elevating it into a crowd-pleaser. Before Martin appears to steal the show, the film is anchored by the invaluable presences of Regina Hall and Issa Rae.

Hall plays Jordan Sanders, a tech mogul whose ruthlessness stems from being bullied as a young girl. When her parents tell her that life won't be like this when she's bigger, she vows that she'll grow up and be the boss. After all, nobody can bully the boss because she'll make sure to bully them first. Indeed, Jordan keeps to that promise, steamrolling over everyone in her path, particularly her beleaguered and overworked assistant, April (Rae), who has to contend with all of Jordan's ridiculous demands such as ensuring that her bedroom slippers are 53 centimetres away from her bed.

When a young girl wishes that Jordan would be held accountable for her horrible behaviour, Jordan wakes up to find that she is in her 13-year-old body. More problematic for Jordan, she only has two days to convince her company's biggest client not to jump ship. Since Child Protection Services insists that she be in the very same school where she was bullied all those years ago, she has no choice but to enlist April's help. Comedy and life lessons ensue.

Though its jokes don't always land (Jordan and April singing a Mary J. Blige classic practically deflates from the get-go), but there's enough here to make Little worth the watch. Certainly the highlight has to be the scene where young Jordan flirts with a handsome teacher played by Justin Hartley (This Is Us); it works not only because it's just plain old funny but because of its provocative and insightful nature. Adults are often defined and shaped by the insecurities of their youth, yet what Little observes is that the confidence and strength have always been there. Perhaps we don't have the capacity to recognise it at a young age - really, at any age as April's trajectory demonstrates - but we just have to find it within ourselves.

Little

Directed by: Tina Gordon

Written by: Tracy Oliver, Tina Gordon

Starring: Regina Hall, Issa Rae, Marsai Martin, Justin Hartley, Tone Bell, Rachel Dratch, Mikey Day