The Little Hours

Year: 2017
Genre: Comedy
Directed: Jeff Baena
Stars: Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Jemima Kirke, Nick Offerman, Lauren Weedman, Paul Reiser, Paul Weitz
Production: Bow and Arrow Entertainment

The Little Hours is loosely based on a short story written by Giovanni Boccaccio and chronicled in his infamous "Decameron Tales". It tells the story of a charlatan pretending to be a deaf-mute who reluctantly winds up in the service of a group of curious, sexually repressed nuns. The original story was meant to be a humorous and salacious satire of the church and the sexual mores of the time. More than six centuries later one wonders if the lessons of “Tale 1, Day 3” are really all that relevant.

In da garden devidah baby!

Of course they are, and arguably more than ever but that doesn’t stop The Little Hours from being a drag that barely manages to coax a smile. The movie for all its inspired and ribald comedic setups can’t help but feel like an elongated Saturday Night Live (1975-Present) skit or being on the outside of an inside joke.

And this is despite the movie featuring an all-star comedic cast. You’ve got Alison Brie playing the prissy Alessandra, Aubrey Plaza definitely playing to her strengths as the eye-rolling Fernanda and Kate Micucci rounding out the central trio as the mousy Ginerva. It’s when these three luminous actresses are on the screen together, discussing trivialities - avoiding conversations about the new errand boy (Franco) that this movie truly shines. Micucci especially has a knack for improvisational dialogue that is both quippy and natural, meshing easily with Plaza’s bitchy-witchy performance which by this point is second nature.

...very second nature.

When it comes to the men however, the film feels like a squandered opportunity. Much like in Walk Hard (2007), John C. Reilly plays his character straight, with an admirable amount of restraint. Yet because the film never edges towards the absurd, his drunken priest never feels more than just a well-meaning hypocrite. Fred Armisen likewise does a commendable job (his brief stint provided yours truly with the only real laugh the entire movie). But again, he feels like he’s schlepping in from another movie.

You suck!

Dave Franco’s serial adulterer fairs the worst, having a near infinite amount of comedic possibilities but still winding up no more than a piece of meat. When he’s on screen, it’s easy to tell most the dialogue is improvised because nearly every run-in with the nuns involve him nodding his head and smiling wearily. Let it be said that in a movie full of blasphemy, sexual seductions and absurd curiosities the fact that Dave Franco is the de facto object of affection is probably the biggest joke of all.

Was this what you were going for?

Isn’t there like, a whole sub-genre of movies that exist solely to get your jollys off of nuns with bad habits? Is The Little Hours supposed to be a parody of those movies or is it really just about retelling Boccaccio’s sordid tale? If so, Pier Paolo Pasolini arguably did it better and managed to make a movie that was both funnier and statelier than what comes across here. I think they were reaching for Robert Downey Jr.’s mock trailer in Tropic Thunder (2008) but what they got was a slightly better version of Your Highness (2011). If you haven’t seen this movie yet, count your blessings.

Final Grade: C-