Search - Little Man [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

Little Man full of Little Laughs

S. Rhodes | 07/25/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"There's nothing wrong with dumb comedies. Nothing at all, but the problem with most dumb comedies is that they're just that: Dumb. There is such a thing as being so stupid it's not funny and Little Man manages to do that quite well. The Wayans brothers have been known to do comedies with utterly ridiculous plots, gross-out and sophmoric humor, and usually not giving a rip with who they make fun of. Ever since the success with Scary Movie they've made quite a name for themselves.

Little Man takes dumb comedy to the height of stupidity. The story is implausible. A comedy isn't so good when the viewer can actually see that it's trying to get some laughs. Little Man is a comedy that tries too hard. The movie is about a two foot six inch tall man named Calvin who robs a jewelry store with is incompetant partner Percy (played by Tracy Morgan). Unfortunately he drops the diamond into the purse of Vanessa Edwards (Kerry Washington). In order to get the diamond back Calvin decides to impersonate a baby and get himself dropped off on the steps of Vanessa's home. Vanessa and her husband Darryl (Shawn Wayans) decide to take the baby in.

To be honest, the movie probably would've been much more fun to watch had it just simply been about the robbers trying to break into the house and steal the diamond back. Instead, like your typical Wayans brother's movie, it opts for the more ridiculous plot. What really surprises me is that no one in the family suspects the baby of being older than he actually is. A baby that talks fluently, swears, and doesn't even look cute just takes the humor out of this movie. The people who take the "baby" in in the first place have got to be some of the most dense people on earth not realize that the baby isn't a baby at all.

This is part of the problem with the movie. Calvin discovers that he can fool just about everybody. The movie expects us to believe that all the characters on screen are idiots. Another big problem is that Calvin goes from his cute act to being the same ruthless, ill-tempered burglar he's always been. Swearing in his normal thirty-something year old voice and flipping the bird should be more than enough of a sign to these people that this "baby" is no baby at all.

I admit that the Wayans brothers can be funny guys, but this seems like a movie better suited to have been an animated feature rather than live-action. I didn't find the movie to be funny because I couldn't shake the fact that the characters on screen were really stupid about the whole situation. It sort of took the humor out of the movie."