On this day in comedy on July 14, 2006, Little Man was released by Columbia Pictures.
This film is a labor of love by the Wayans Family. Keenan Ivory Wayans co-produced it, co-wrote it and directed it. Brothers Marlon and Shawn Wayans co-produced it, co-wrote it and co-starred in it. And in the pivotal co-co-co-starring role of the Officer Wilson – Damien Dante Wayans. Other non-Wayans members of the cast are David Alan Grier, Molly Shannon, Uriel Garcia, Brittany Daniel, Lochlyn Munro, Kelly Coffield, Dave Sheridan, Fred Stoller, Alex Borstein, Rob Schneider and John Witherspoon.
The story revolves around a dwarf of a jewel thief who heists a priceless diamond (aren’t they all in the movies? There’s never a retail price) and before getting busted with it he stashes it in the purse of an innocent citizen (Kerry Washington) and now has to get it back. Retrieving means going to her home, discovering she and her husband (Shawn Wayans) want a baby and masquerading as a baby to get inside.
Once in Wayans does his best to find the diamond, but his attentive parents are always in his face. He tries to get help from his partner in crime (Tracy Morgan), but he’s already been approached by the local gangster (Chazz Palminteri) who knows the score and wants the priceless diamond. And as if that wasn’t enough, none of the couple’s friends or relatives think Wayans is an adorable baby. Maybe not, but when everything swirls out of control it’s baby Wayans who saves himself, his ‘parents’ and gets the gangster jailed.
All ends happily ever after. The baby Wayans (now an admitted criminal) gets to hang out with the couple and play games in the park with his ‘parents’, who now have a newborn who looks like daddy and not Baby Wayans (who also got some booty from the wife).
The critics didn’t care for Little Man, but when have the Wayans ever cared about critics. Bottom-line – on a budget of $64 million Little Man grossed $101.595,121 million at the worldwide box office.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip:
