Little Man (film)
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- For other uses, see Little Man.
| Little Man | |
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| Directed by | Keenen Ivory Wayans |
| Produced by | Lee Mayes Rick Alvarez Marlon Wayans Shawn Wayans |
| Written by | Keenen Ivory Wayans Marlon Wayans Shawn Wayans |
| Starring | Marlon Wayans Shawn Wayans Kerry Washington Tracy Morgan John Witherspoon Brittany Daniel Tyler Wallson |
| Distributed by | Revolution Studios |
| Release date(s) | July 14, 2006 |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Little Man is a 2006 American film starring Wayans brothers Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans, with Kerry Washington, and Tracy Morgan.
It is directed by the older Wayans' brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, and it's also written by the three brothers. Little Man was released on DVD, November 7, 2006.
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[edit] Production
The movie began filming in the Vancouver area on October 17, 2005 and finished on March 1, 2006.
The scenes with Calvin Sims were played twice: once by nine-year-old 75 cm (2'6") tall dwarf actor Linden Porco together with the other actors, and once by Marlon Wayans alone, using a "bluescreen" technique with a green background and green clothes. In post-production, Porco's head on the images was replaced by that of Marlon. Porco's body has been painted brown in order to match Marlon's face.
Shawn Wayan's face was also superimposed in one scene.
During filming, dwarf actor Linden Porco narrowly avoided serious injury when a large lighting fixture nearly fell on top of him, but he was pushed out of the way by Shawn Wayans.
[edit] Synopsis
After several years in prison, a recently paroled tough-as-nails — though not-quite-three-foot-tall — jewel thief Calvin Sims (Marlon Wayans' face superimposed on Linden Porco's body) decides it’s time to retire from a life of crime, but not before pulling off one last big heist. A notorious crime boss has offered Calvin and his former partner Percy P (Tracy Morgan) $100,000 to steal the famous Queen Diamond. Because there’s a glitch in the jewelry store’s security system, Calvin assumes the job will be child’s play. But the heist goes bad, and Calvin is forced to drop the jewel into Vanessa Edwards' (Kerry Washington) purse. Vanessa and her husband Darryl (Shawn Wayans) then return to their suburban Chicago neighborhood unaware that they have become pawns in a high-stake crime.
Darryl and Vanessa are having problems of their own. Darryl is dying to assume the responsibilities of parenthood. But Vanessa, who has just been promoted to vice president at an advertising firm, is worried that having a baby will limit her ability to climb higher up the corporate ladder. She is also concerned that, despite his enthusiasm, Darryl is not ready to be a father.
When they overhear Darryl and Vanessa, Percy and Calvin devise a plan to exploit their insecurities in order to recover the stolen gem. Calvin will masquerade as a “baby,” infiltrate their home and sneak away with the diamond. He deposits himself in a baby basket on Darryl and Vanessa’s doorstep. Darryl leaps at the opportunity to prove he’s ready for fatherhood by caring for the abandoned child for the weekend. To his surprise, Vanessa agrees.
Once inside the Edwards home, the tough, cynical Calvin finds life as a “baby” to be a living hell and retrieving the diamond much tougher than he’d imagined. The Edwards’ best friends - Greg & Brittany (Lochlyn Munro & Brittany Daniel) and Richard & Janet (Fred Stoller & Alex Borstein) – shower gifts and advice on the new parents, while Vanessa’s suspicious father Pops (John Witherspoon) is determined to expose Calvin as a fraud.
Calvin’s toughest obstacle, however, turns out to be Darryl, who in his eagerness to prove what a great father he can be, inadvertently sabotages Calvin’s plan. The father/son events Darryl schedules are laden with booby traps. A day in the park ends in a high-speed car chase. “Baby’s” first hockey game descends into a drunken brawl. With each disaster, Darryl becomes increasingly worried that he is a failure as a parent, despite assurances from Vanessa. In a final attempt to do something good for the “baby,” Darryl vows to throw the best birthday party a kid has ever had. And the elusive diamond slips dangerously away from Calvin when Vanessa finds the jewel and assumes it is the engagement ring Darryl had promised her years ago.
While Darryl and Vanessa are out, Pops confronts “baby” Calvin. When they return, Pops has the “baby” in a headlock and he is quickly shipped off to an old-folks home. However, a stuffed bear containing a secret “nanny-cam,” reveals the truth, but not before Calvin makes his escape, the diamond safely in hand. Vanessa leaves the house to retrieve her father, Pops, while her husband searches for Calvin. He finds him still within the house, but he also found their boss as well. Nonetheless, they managed to outsmart him and have him arrested. Calvin returns the diamond to the police, still in the disguise of a baby.
In the end, Darryl discovers that fatherhood may be hard work but it’s the greatest job a guy could have, while Calvin finds out what it’s like to have someone who will look out for him no matter what. After a short credits break, the film shows the newest addition to Edwards' household . . . another baby that looks remarkably like Darryl.
[edit] Trivia
- Little Man holds the record of the fastest movie to ever drop to IMDb's bottom 100 movies list, dropping down to below #10 in its first 48 hours of release. On July 20, 2006, six days after its initial release, the film was rated #5 of the worst movies of all time on the site and showed signs of possibly going lower. As of November 25, 2006, it is #56 with A 2.4/10 Rating.
[edit] Similarities
- A similar plot is seen in the Bugs Bunny short film, "Baby Buggy Bunny", but the thief steals cash instead of a piece of jewelery. Animation historian Jerry Beck notes the similarities between Little Man and the "Baby Buggy Bugs" Bugs Bunny cartoon (and the film's lack of acknowledgement to Chuck Jones) on his Cartoon Brew blog.
- Another similar cartoon plot on an episode of The Jetsons where a short, bald criminal loses a diamond and ends up in the Jetson's home, so he poses as a baby to get it back.
- The Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers episode "Dirty Rotten Diapers" also has a similar plot, in which an adult poses as a baby to steal jewelery.
- A very similar plot happens in the film Blue Streak with Martin Lawrence, only Lawrence pretends to be a cop instead of a baby.
[edit] Responses
The critics' reviews are extremely negative. British film critic Mark Kermode described the film as "the most retrograde, horrible, nauseating, inward-looking, smug, repulsive, grotesque, ill-advised, badly-judged film", "pure evil" and (perhaps jokingly) as "possessed by the devil". It holds a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes with a rating of 3.5/10. Although Little Man holds the fastest record to ever drop to IMDb's bottom 100 movies list, other users on other websites hold this movie on a slightly more positive note. On Movies.com, viewers voted this a B-, on E! Online, viewers voted this an B+, on Yahoo!, viewers voted this a C+, and on Google, viewers voted this a 1.5/5.
As of August 4, 2006, the film has grossed $58,255,287 domestically [1].A total $100,276,415 worldwide. Production of the film cost in the area of 60 million.
[edit] Problems with the DVD
There have been problems with the DVD release. Several discs have gone out with no data on them, causing them not to work in any player.
