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Review: The Little Hours (2017) ★★★½

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">There is a popular trend that has worked its way through the comedy world for years&comma; and now it has found a home in contemporary American cinema&colon; it is the juxtaposition of subjects and formats that are traditional&comma; wholesome&comma; serious&comma; or even sacred&comma; with the crude&comma; abrasive humor of the standup comedy world&period; While this is <em>technically<&sol;em> nothing new&comma; it has gained steam recently with comedians like Seth Rogen&comma; who has used this technique in films like <em>Sausage Party<&sol;em> &lpar;2016&rpar;&comma; which combines crass humor with animation that is generally reserved for children’s films&comma; and <em>The Interview<&sol;em> &lpar;2014&rpar;&comma; a comedy about assassinating North Korea’s dictator&comma; Kim Jong-Un&period; Similarly&comma; Jeff Baena’s <em>The Little Hours<&sol;em>&comma; loosely based on the <em>The Decameron<&sol;em>&comma; a collection of novellas from 14th-century Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio&comma; combines the humble&comma; reverent setting of a convent in the Middle Ages with the overt sexuality&comma; abrasive language&comma; and general irreverence of modern improvisational comedy&period; Though the film works well&comma; and is genuinely funny&comma; it relies a bit too much on these strange bedfellows and the natural talent of its cast&comma; rather than quality writing or storytelling&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The plot focuses on the inhabitants of a secluded convent&comma; Father Tommasso &lpar;John C&period; Reilly&rpar;&comma; Sister Marea &lpar;Molly Shannon&rpar;&comma; and three young nuns&colon; Alessandra &lpar;Alison Brie&rpar;&comma; Ginevra &lpar;Kate Micucci&rpar;&comma; and Fernanda &lpar;Aubrey Plaza&rpar;&period; When the three foul-mouthed nuns verbally abuse the gardener&comma; he quits&comma; leaving Father Tommasso desperate to find a replacement&period; Meanwhile&comma; Massetto &lpar;Dave Franco&rpar;&comma; a handyman for the local nobility&comma; is caught sleeping with his master’s wife&comma; and is forced to flee the castle&period; When he runs into a drunken Father Tommasso in the nearby woods&comma; the two strike up a deal to solve both of their problems&colon; Massetto will work as the new gardener at the convent&comma; posing as a deaf-mute so that the nuns will be less inclined to fight with him&comma; and Father Tommasso will keep him in hiding until Lord Bruno &lpar;Nick Offerman&rpar; ends his pursuit of Massetto&period; However&comma; Massetto’s presence brings chaos to the quiet convent&comma; and sets off a string of events that reveal the private sins of everyone involved&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Even though the disparate elements in the narrative fit together well&comma; it feels like the filmmakers simply wanted to cram in as many sacrilegious subplots as possible to infuriate the Catholic League &lpar;who naturally denounced the film&rpar;&period; In one particular scene&comma; the presiding Bishop&comma; Bartolomeo &lpar;Fred Armisen&rpar; visits the nuns&comma; only to realize that they are perhaps the most corrupt and sinful group under his tutelage&semi; he brings each of the offenders forward&comma; listing their many transgressions&comma; which include such crimes as homosexuality&comma; witchcraft&comma; and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;eating blood&period;” Though the extremity of their sins functions as part of the joke&comma; it looks a lot like pushing the envelope just for the sake of being edgy&comma; which does take away from the film as a whole&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;1268" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-1268" style&equals;"width&colon; 850px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-1268" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;01&sol;snapshot&lowbar;00&lowbar;10&lowbar;14&lowbar;2017&lowbar;10&lowbar;07&lowbar;09&lowbar;45&lowbar;03-300x125&period;jpg" alt&equals;"three nuns walking The Little Hours movie" width&equals;"850" height&equals;"355" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-1268" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Little Hours &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Just about every scene in the film is hilarious&comma; mostly because the characters do little to make themselves fit the poise and vernacular of the times&comma; instead behaving like a group of horny 20-somethings living in the present&period; Much of the dialogue is improvised&comma; and though this makes the banter even funnier at times&comma; it could have benefited from a more polished approach&period; The story meanders from one clumsily structured sequence to the next&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">For better or worse&comma; this is the basis of pretty much all of the laughs&period; The film aims to shock&comma; with Aubrey Plaza &lpar;among others&rpar; engaging in lesbian sex scenes&comma; while also attempting to be a pious nun from the Dark Ages&period; Despite this being a purposeful attempt to enhance the contrast between what is sacred and secular&comma; it leaves audiences wanting more from a film that could have been a work of comedic genius with an otherwise brilliant concept and talented cast&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Though the writing is a bit lacking&comma; the mise en scène helps legitimize the film and give it an entirely unique quality&period; The buildings&comma; landscapes and costumes are all meticulously crafted to reflect the times and European setting&comma; which&comma; when set against the ridiculous dialogue and over-the-top irreverence&comma; make <em>The Little Hours<&sol;em> an extremely enjoyable and hilarious viewing experience&period; So often these kinds of comedies are hampered by low budgets and poor production value&comma; but Baena and his crew pulled out all the stops&comma; and it really adds to the inherent humor of the script&period; Baena defies audiences not to crack up when contrasting solemn tradition with nihilistic comedy&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">While those who are more traditional or devoutly Catholic will probably find nothing of value in <em>The Little Hours<&sol;em>&comma; for the rest of us&comma; it is a refreshing&comma; inventive and funny film that is not afraid to mock religious zealotry&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Rating&colon; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">&starf;&starf;&starf;<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1">&half; out of 5<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to watch <span class&equals;"s1"><em>The Little Hours<&sol;em>&comma; it is available to rent or purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B073HPCKN9&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B073HPCKN9&amp&semi;linkId&equals;fdc1cf28416e14b0353d76390d66bde7"><u>here<&sol;u><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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