Review: The Little Hours

Nuns behaving badly is at the core of Jeff Baena's odd The Little Hours. One's taste in humor is tested in a film that bases so much of its humor around that core joke. If you find nuns swearing and screwing to be hilarious, then I have a movie for you. If not, then you will find The Little Hours to be an uneven comedy that relies on a talented cast to get by.

The film is an adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron, the film follows handsome servant Massetto (Dave Franco) who is on the run and hides out at a convent. The convent is full of interesting characters. There is Alessandra (Alison Brie) who is waiting on a marriage proposal that will likely never come. Her father (Paul Reiser) is a large donor to the convent and so she gets a more spacious room as a result. Slightly mad Fernanda (Aubrey Plaza) seems to enjoy tormenting those around her, especially the groundskeeper. Then there is Genevra (Kate Micucci) who is the most devout. The convent is run by Father Tommasso (John C. Reilly) and Sister Marea (Molly Shannon). 

One of the successes of the film is how it shows how all of these characters are hiding things and how they all start to get exposed by the presence of an outsider. Another success is the way in which the film modernizes a story about nuns in the time of the Black Death, proving that certain stories are somewhat timeless. However, the film is often too manic to feel genuine but too concerned about its characters to be the zany sex-romp it wants to be.

As Massetto begins to awaken sexual desires in the nuns around him, the film falls into a series of awkward encounters. Baena never seems to find the tone of the film he wants. The great cast is more than game but one can never tell how the film really feels about its characters. One scene will be a sincere look at dashed dreams and hopes and then the next will be full of raunchy humor. For a bit, this odd combination is intriguing but soon it wears thin. 

While The Little Hours succeeds in a few scenes and features a stellar cast, then film is an uneven mess. The fifth and raunch that pours from the nuns' mouths is funny at times but too often it overshadows the more interesting aspects of the story and characters. Each of these people in the film have secrets and when the film focuses on them, it works as an odd, comedic updating of an old tale. Baena doesn't seem to fully understand what to focus on as the director.  The film left me wanting more and feeling shortchanged in favor of more nuns behaving badly.

2.5/5