Littleman (2006)

A wannabe dad mistakes a vertically challenged criminal on the lam as his newly adopted son.

Director:

Keenen Ivory Wayans

Writers:

Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans

Stars:

Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Kerry Washington

5 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marlon Wayans	...	Calvin
Shawn Wayans	...	Darryl
Kerry Washington	...	Vanessa
John Witherspoon	...	Pops
Tracy Morgan	...	Percy
Lochlyn Munro	...	Greg
Chazz Palminteri	...	Walken
Molly Shannon	...	Soccer Mom
David Alan Grier	...	Jimmy
Dave Sheridan	...	Rosco
Fred Stoller	...	Richard
Brittany Daniel	...	Brittany
Linden Porco	...	Calvin Body
Gabriel Pimentel	...	Calvin Body (as Gabe Pimental)
Alex Borstein	...	Janet

Storyline

After leaving the prison, the dwarf criminal Calvin Sims joins to his moron brother Percy to steal an expensive huge diamond in a jewelry for the mobster Walken. They are chased by the police, and Calvin hides the stone in the purse of the executive Vanessa Edwards, whose husband Darryl Edwards wants to have a baby. Percy convinces Calvin to dress like a baby and be left in front of the Edwards's house to get inside the house and retrieve the diamond. Darryl and Vanessa keep Calvin for the weekend and decide to adopt him, while Walken threatens Darryl to get the stone back.

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Plot Keywords:

dumb police | craps | baseball | diarrhea | diamond | 

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Taglines:

From the Guys Who Brought You "White Chicks".

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor throughout, language and brief drug references

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English Estonian

Release Date:

14 July 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Little Man

Filming Locations:

Burnaby Hospital, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$64,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$21,613,176, 16 July 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$58,645,052

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$101,595,121

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revolution Studios, Wayans Bros. Entertainment, Wayans Alvarez Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The soccer moms minivan was a, 1996 Chevrolet Astro AWD.

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Goofs

After Calvin runs over the police spike strip in the GTO, the tires on the car don't go flat.

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Quotes

Darryl: [after almost getting hit by a truck] It ain't worth it, let me out...

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Alternate Versions

When aired on TV the scene where Little Man is giving the middle finger instead of being blurred out or recording the scene again like most TV edits it is digitally omitted to look like he is giving Grandpa the fist.

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Connections

Spoofs Barney & Friends (1992)

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Soundtracks

Concerto in E Major, Op. 8, No. 1, RV 269, 'La Primavera' (Spring)
Written by Antonio Vivaldi

User Reviews

Really badly misjudged and delivered throughout, I've seen funnier hate crimes

When career criminal and "little person" Calvin gets released from prison he wastes no time in robbing a jewellery store of a priceless and famous diamond. Pursed by the police he hides the diamond in the handbag of a passing couple and makes his getaway. He needs to retrieve the diamond in a way that doesn't attract attention – so force is out. Luckily he overhears Darryl and Vanessa discussing having a baby together and spots his way in. Disguising himself as a baby, Calvin abandons himself on their doorstep and is taken into their house. The perfect cover and total access, what could possibly happen other than the conclusion of a perfect crime and, of course, hilarity?

There's no point getting upset about it, the Wayans brothers have not only made films but will continue to get money to make more. It doesn't seem to matter how good or bad these films are, they will still get more money. I never bothered to see White Chicks but I didn't think they could have a worse idea – until that is, I saw the detail of this film. The plot is nonsense but that goes without saying. A bad story from the Wayans family is something I have come to expect but I did not expect just how tasteless so much of the content would be. This is a film that not only delivers the expected bodily function and physical pratfalls but also has time for rape and sexual harassment as subjects for the audience to supposedly be rolling with laughter about. To be honest though, if I had been laughing at these things then I would not be phrasing it like that, but the problem was that I laughed literally twice in the entire film. Both of these laughs were when one character repeatedly gets hit in the crotch and they were more of pleasure of even having a small moment of humour rather than the gag being good.

The dearth of laughs mean that the plot is exposed all the more for the hideous creation it is. I was shocked to see the writers trying to produce an emotional core or theme to the proceedings – an attempt that fails badly. Not only did the material make me a little queasy but the poor effects did as well. Marlon Wayans constantly looks really badly superimposed and animated and the motions of body/head made me a little seasick. His performance is not much better but to be honest how can one judge the performance of actors in this film? It is easier just to make sure they are reminded that they did it as often as possible. Washington is better than this, much better. Shawn Wayans deserves it and Witherspoon at least has made a career out of this sort of performance and just ticks the boxes off. Palminteri must have needed a new car urgently, otherwise I have no idea what else would have made him take this work.

Little Man is bad across the board and I can genuinely find nothing to recommend it for. I watched Norbit a few days ago and at least I had the make-up to praise, but with Little Man it is literally a creative, comedic and narrative void. I hope everyone involved can look past the money they made (and believe it or not, it did make money) and consider the implications of what they have done.