The Little Hours has an amazing cast, an interesting thematic bent, and occasionally strong writing. Certainly there are funny scenes within the movie. It centers around antics at a 14th century convent, and chooses to have anachronistic contemporary dialogue and delivery by a mostly American cast.
Unfortunately, the film is uneven. Its storytelling is meandering at best, and the writers seem absolutely fixated on sexual assault and rape, to the point where whatever semblance of a plot the film has can only be called a story of one dude getting repeatedly assaulted and raped. These sorts of jokes are dubious even when well-executed, but several of these scenes play out with stunning simplicity. Nothing especially absurd is happening, and there seems to be no joke other than, “Man raped. Haha.” If this is the joke, it’s not funny. If it’s not the joke, I don’t get it. Either way, large sections of the movie are an abject failure because of it.
Of course, these scenes account for, at most 10-15% of the run-time. Elsewhere, the film is alternatingly very funny and very dull. The other antics at the convent, the insobriety of the Father, the relationship between the Father and the Mother Superior, and the general irreverence towards an occupation so usually revered in fiction are all fertile grounds for comedy. Fred Armisen as a visiting Bishop is an especial highlight.
Do the good parts make up for the bad? And the dull? And the meandering? Not in my opinion. You’ve got to be a lot funnier than this movie to make up for making rape your most prominent joke, and much better movies would not clear that hurdle. Do not feel pressured to watch this film.
Content warning: enormous amounts of sexual assault and rape, treated with complete flippancy
Plot: 2
Characters: 6
Themes: 6
Spectacle: 5
Overall score: a habit, but one that’s overly heavy and extremely itchy.
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