Thursday, June 29, 2017

Hail Mary Full of Laughs

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If ever a movie was made to be called "BAWDY!" on its poster, The Little Hours is that movie, and delightfully so. (Also possibly "RIBALD!" in a pinch?) It stars Aubrey Plaza, Allison Brie, Kate Micucci, and Molly Shannon as four of the nutty brunette nuns running roughshod over a 14th Century convent and the priest (a piously pickled  John C. Reilly) in charge, slamming their vows like soiled habits against the stones. They curse, they fornicate, they lift up their heavy skirts and ride the Deadly Sins (also Dave Franco) donkey-style across the picturesque Italian countryside - it's Hee Haw for heretics!

This sort of thing could've been slight, a threadbare SNL skit - watch out for those crazy nuns! - and at times it flirts with that, but director Jeff Baene also has a beautiful eye and the landscape is really very breathtaking - there's a sweet frisson to the goofiness of the manic happenings rubbing up against the sun-dappled 70s feel of the thing that come across individual and fresh. Baene keeps his camera wide and lets these big characters play out against this big landscape, and there's something delicious and cinematic about it. 

So no, it's not going to overthrow our shit-stained government and usher in a new and profound era of peace and light, but The Little Hours is ninety straight minutes of Dave Franco's spectacular cleavage getting pawed at by a cloister-full of frolicsome comediennes cut loose and extra groovy, and that's plenty for my forlorn soul this summer. I feel saved for now.

(If you missed our pics from last night's Little Hours event with Plaza & Franco click here for that!)
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