Little Men is a small but wonderful gem of a film. It is not great, heck it doesn't live up its potential, but there are some elements that make this worth watching.
The movie is about two teenagers from Brooklyn that become best friends. Jake Jardine is a timid artist and Tony Calvelli is more outgoing and an aspiring actor. Jake's dad (Greg Kinnear) is a struggling actor, so it all seems to fit together well. Jake's grandfather owned a dress shop and Tony's mother was the most valuable employee. Jake and Tony meet at the funeral, but it also becomes the battleground for the parents.
Jake and Tony's friendship is touching. They play video games, joke around, roller-blade, etc. We know that they have each other's back no matter what. The only problem is we don't see much of this. At 85 minutes, more stuff could have been built around the kids. Their friendship is upstaged by the parents. Bad move.
The parents' rivalry is so uninteresting. Who cares about a silly old lease? We want to see that blossoming friendship between Jake and Tony. I'm not saying that the parental aspect isn't important, because it really is. The movie is about the impact that feuding parents have on best friends. I just simply disagree with the time that was devoted to each story. The only part of Jake and Tony's story I didn't like was them going to a teenage nightclub. Other than that, I enjoyed every minute of the time spent with them. When the kids are brought into the mix of the parents, it is very well done. But it is over much too quickly. It also featured a bad ending that could easily have been avoided.
This movie needs to be remade sometime in the next few years. It had so much potential and everybody can see where they went wrong. Is this a bad movie? No. Some things are great. Just enough to give a thumbs up. But I would love to see a revised version of this.
3/4
The movie is about two teenagers from Brooklyn that become best friends. Jake Jardine is a timid artist and Tony Calvelli is more outgoing and an aspiring actor. Jake's dad (Greg Kinnear) is a struggling actor, so it all seems to fit together well. Jake's grandfather owned a dress shop and Tony's mother was the most valuable employee. Jake and Tony meet at the funeral, but it also becomes the battleground for the parents.
Jake and Tony's friendship is touching. They play video games, joke around, roller-blade, etc. We know that they have each other's back no matter what. The only problem is we don't see much of this. At 85 minutes, more stuff could have been built around the kids. Their friendship is upstaged by the parents. Bad move.
The parents' rivalry is so uninteresting. Who cares about a silly old lease? We want to see that blossoming friendship between Jake and Tony. I'm not saying that the parental aspect isn't important, because it really is. The movie is about the impact that feuding parents have on best friends. I just simply disagree with the time that was devoted to each story. The only part of Jake and Tony's story I didn't like was them going to a teenage nightclub. Other than that, I enjoyed every minute of the time spent with them. When the kids are brought into the mix of the parents, it is very well done. But it is over much too quickly. It also featured a bad ending that could easily have been avoided.
This movie needs to be remade sometime in the next few years. It had so much potential and everybody can see where they went wrong. Is this a bad movie? No. Some things are great. Just enough to give a thumbs up. But I would love to see a revised version of this.
3/4