Little review: Marsai Martin is a star

Diane from Black-ish is all grown up! Marsai Martin proves she’s ready for the big-time carrying her weight alongside Issa Rae and Regina Hall in Little.

It feels almost surreal to type those words having literally watched Marsai grow up over the past five years on Black-ish. I remember having discussions about how “grown” (adult-like) her character Diane is on the show. Clearly, her character pulled from some of her real personality because Marsai didn’t wait until she was officially grown to make big girl moves. If you haven’t heard by now, Marsai isn’t only one of the stars of the soon-to-be Box Office success Little. She also came up with the idea for the movie and is an Executive Producer on the film.

As the team behind the film came together it was very clear that Marsai had a lot of great people in her corner. Landing Girls Trip scribe Tracy Oliver and Tina Gordon as director (What Men Want, Drumline) meant that there were two powerful women behind the camera. Landing Regina Hall (Girls Trip, Scary Movie) and Issa Rae (Insecure) to star in the film meant two powerful women in front of it. Black-ish boss Kenya Barris stepped up to produce the film and the marketing for it has been exceptional.

But would they come through?

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Should I see it?

YES! I’m sorry I wasted the last two seconds of your time questioning whether or not this film came together. There were too many brilliant people involved for it not to. I went into the film expecting some laughs and some common tropes for movies of this nature but I walked away having once again seen the power of having creatives from underrepresented groups handle a film from page to screen.

While the concept was familiar, there were many aspects to Little that make it stand out from the rest.

The mean boss

Little opens on Marsai as the young Jordan Sanders and we get the reason behind her becoming the woman she is now.

Fast-forward, we then see the dynamic between adult Jordan Sanders (Regina Hall) and her assistant April (Issa Rae). The laughs are non-stop from there. Regina Hall’s mean boss was comedy gold on its own and Issa Rae’s annoyed, yet dutiful assistant was the perfect lens to react to her through.

Watching the other employees scatter like roaches any time Jordan entered the room just added another fun element to the character. She’s abusive to her employees and does so in the most personal of ways. It’s rough but avoids being cringe-inducing at the same time.

At one point she is threatening employees jobs if they don’t come up with a pitch and makes a direct comment to an employee that she knows she can’t afford to lose her health benefits. She personally attacks several employees in different ways during this scene but the purpose of the scene was never lost.

Her wrath is not reserved for her employees, however. We watch her dismiss the man she’s seeing, push a kid, cut in line for coffee, berate the valet… you get the point by now. She’s a bad person. So when she crosses the wrong little girl and gets cursed, you know she deserved what came to her.

Little Jordan

This is where Marsai comes in. As I mentioned in the opening, Marsai Martin’s character on Black-ish is known for being too grown but in Little, that is exactly what she was supposed to be.

Marsai was a natural playing an adult in a child’s body. I’ve always enjoyed her on Black-ish but to see her on the big screen it’s clear to me that she’s destined for great things. Watching her interact with adults and navigate through some very mature scenarios you could almost forget that there wasn’t really an adult in there.

Not only was her comedic timing and delivery great, but her dramatic moments were handled well also. Marsai more than carried her weight in this one and I’m ready to buy whatever it is she decides to do next.

The importance of representation 

In the first scene with little Jordan, she has a huge afro. When we meet big Jordan she has a home assistant called “Homegirl” (voiced by Tracee Ellis Ross) which is basically like a black version of Alexa. When we meet Issa Rae’s character April, she puts on a “Black People Read” jacket before leaving the house.

All of these were just introduction scenes but throughout the film there were many moments and lines that you just wouldn’t get from the average film of this nature and it was great to see. It was also great to see a movie where the main character is a black woman who is the CEO of a diverse tech company.

Overall

This movie lives up to its PG-13 rating with a lot of sexual references and a good bit of strong language. Besides this, the movie really is one that all audiences can enjoy. It’s funny, the performances are great, and the message is a good one even if it isn’t clear until late in the film what the message is.

At a certain point, I stopped caring about the bigger story and just enjoyed the laughs. That’s really what I want my comedies to do. If you are looking for a great story that is going to change your life, you aren’t going to get that here. If you’re looking to laugh and enjoy strong lead performances, then Little has you covered.

Little is currently in theaters and should have earned back its budget by its second weekend.