LITTLE (12A)
GROWING up with the benefit of battle-scarred hindsight is child’s play in Little, a surprisingly heartfelt bodyswap comedy which is blessed with eye-catching performances from an allfemale lead cast.
Regina Hall and 14-year-old Black-ish star Marsai Martin are well matched as the adult and childhood versions of a control freak protagonist, who throws a fit if her slippers aren’t precisely 53cm away from her bed.
App designer Jordan Sanders (Hall) mistreats her staff, especially her overworked assistant April (Issa Rae).
Workers scurry for cover when Jordan slinks into the office, but the bullying boss meets her match in a magicobsessed girl (Marley Taylor), who angrily waves her plastic magic wand and proclaims: “I wish you were my age.”
The following morning, Jordan stares into her mirror and her 13-year-old self (Martin) squints back.
“Wishes don’t come true or I’d be on maternity leave with Michael B Jordan’s baby by now,” quips assistant April, the only person that a distraught Jordan trusts with her secret.
Soon after, Agent Bea (Rachel Dratch) from Child Protective Services informs April that she faces a spell behind bars unless teenage Jordan enrols at Windsor Middle School.
With a business pitch to her company’s largest client just 48 hours away, Jordan nervously trudges back to school where she is consigned to the misfits’ table in the canteen alongside Isaac (JD McCrary), Raina (Thalia Tran) and Devon (Tucker Meek).
Little is a mirror image of its central character: imperfect but extremely likeable when it dares to wear a fragile heart on its sleeve.