After the debacle that was White Chicks, it was difficult to imagine a comedy more inane. But then came Little Man - yet another "excremental excuse for a comedy" by the Wayans brothers. This time Marlon Wayans plays a vertically challenged jewel thief posing as a baby for the sake of juvenile japes. Naturally, the critics pooh-poohed it, but it still cleaned up at the US box office. Tsk, tsk...

Little Mindedness

Sixteen deleted scenes revel in more stomach-churning moments eg, Cal 'the baby' getting drunk, peeing while standing up, shaving his five o'clock shadow and fiddling with 'the family jewels'. In a bog-standard 'Making Of' featurette, Keenan Ivory Wayans explains that these twisted titbits are what emerge when, "Me and Marlon lock ourselves alone in a room and have plenty of green tea." (Who knew that green tea could be a health hazard?) A brief look at visual effects sees Marlon pulling faces against a green screen; images that were then digitally superimposed over the body of Linden Porco.

Another featurette shines the spotlight on Porco, who talks about putting his rare medical condition (cartilage-hair hypoplasia) to 'good' use. "Hey, I like acting," he says, "so I thought I might as well try it." In fact, behind-the-scenes footage proves that his performance is at least more endearing than Marlon's. Other members of cast and crew swear blind that Marlon had to be physically shrunk for the role in the featurette Method Or Madness. "Hey, Jamie Foxx, I can be blind," the actor squawks, "but can you be small?" We can definitely vouch for the fact that Marlon Wayans is a small, small man.

Small Talk

Keenan, Marlon and Shawn (who co-wrote the script and plays Darryl) deliver a commentary that's in keeping with the tone of the film. Between slapping each other on the back, there are occasional fart noises and schoolboy sniggers. We can only be grateful that studio execs insisted on a PG-13/12a rating, since the brothers reveal that early drafts of the script included gory details of Cal's experience in prison ie, "getting hit over the head with a can of peaches for his manhood." (Yeesh!) Still, that image does provide us with a polite metaphor to describe the icky feelings of bewilderment and violation that you may experience after watching this DVD. Great, if you're into that sort of thing...

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