PLOT: This Wayans Brothers comedy stars Marlon Wayans as a tiny, baby-faced jewelry thief who poses as an abandoned infant in order to retrieve his stolen bling.
So just how far has onetime Oscar-nominee Chazz Palminteri's career fallen?
It hits a new low as he picks up a paycheque playing yet another mobster in the latest low-brow Wayans Brothers comedy, Little Man.
Palminteri's bit role features him as a gangster who's hired the recently paroled, two-and-a-half-feet-tall Calvin "Baby Face" Sims, (Marlon Wayans) and his wannabe-rapper partner Percy P (Tracy Morgan) to steal the uber-large Queen's Diamond.
The unlikely duo make off with the rock, but it ends up in the purse of an unsuspecting woman (Kerry Washington) and her fiance (Shawn Wayans).
Naturally, the thieves come up with the ludicrous idea of having Calvin pose as an abandoned baby in order to get into the couple's house to retrieve the bling.
Mainly outrageous situations follow -- duh -- with the emphasis on sexual and bathroom humour and slapstick comedy.
There are appearances by comedians from the In Living Color, Saturday Night Live and MAD-TV stables, including David Alan Grier, Alex Borstein, Molly Shannon and Rob Schneider.
But if Little Man is ever funny, it's mainly due to Marlon's crazy facial expressions and the visuals of him in various baby ensembles -- why do people dress their children this way? -- or restraining devices like a crib, baby chair and Jolly Jumper.
It should be pointed out that Marlon had to perform mostly alone on a green screen stage with the six-foot-two actor's face superimposed on child actor Linden Porco's body.
John Witherspoon is Washington's live-in father who is immediately suspicious of the new addition to the family.
White Chicks, the previous feature written by brothers Marlon, Shawn and director Keenen, featured Marlon and Shawn as two undercover FBI agents posing as white women at college.
But the situations get even stranger in Little Man and more sordid with Calvin involved in all sorts of sexual hijinks with his would-be mother and the sexy next door neighbour (Brittany Daniel). There are also some child abuse scenes that would make most parents uncomfortable.
Add plenty of fart and poo jokes, groin punches, and car chases, and Little Man comes up short.
BOTTOM LINE: The Wayans Brothers' homage to Bugs Bunny cartoon character Baby Face Finster isn't for most people with a brain. But for those who like this sort of thing -- sexual and bathroom humour and plenty of slapstick -- they'll like this.
(This film is rated PG)
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