Little Devil (2007)

"...a delight to watch... engaging." – Daily Mirror

"...delightfully well-wrought... spot on." – Daily Telegraph

"...excellent... thought-provoking comedy drama." – The Mirror

When being bad... is good!

Ollie is only ten years old, but he has already figured out that his parents’ marriage is falling apart and they are trying to hide it from him. Racked with guilt that his own clumsy screw-ups make matters worse, Ollie tries to be very good to keep his family together. When his father (Robson Green – Wire in the Blood) and mother (Maggie O’Neill – Blue Murder) resort to upsetting arguments, excessive drinking and hot-headed walkouts, Ollie decides that being really bad should do the trick to restore his happy family.

approx. 131 mins. WIDESCREEN

Not a family flick

The cover of this DVD makes it look like a family film. Definitely not. It's a comedy/drama about marriage woes. A small amount of salty language and mature topics makes it inappropriate for children, but would only offend a very, very prudish adult.

Two British couples are best friends. Couple A, Will & Laura, are solid citizen types, whose life is just a little boring. Will is a head teacher, which is a high school principal to us Americans. Laura has just returned to work after having three kids. She's working for Adrian, the husband in couple B. Adrian (James Wilby) is gorgeous, very charming, and an immature louse. He's the kind of man we women find devastatingly attractive, but wouldn't really want to be married to him. Adrian is married to Katie,an off the wall firebrand. Katie divides her time between drinking and coming up with plots to make the philandering Adrian's life miserable, such as making pinholes in his condoms.

As the movie opens we learn that Laura has succumbed to Adrians considerable charms, but now regrets the affair. Of course, it's not long before Katie discovers the affair, both couples separate, and the fun begins. Will they switch partners? Will they both divorce? Will they reconcile? Both couples have a ten year old child. The children naturally want their parents to stay in the marriages, so they engage in amusing plots to force the parents together, such as feigning eating disorders, pretending to be seriously disturbed, etc. This is all presented in a light-hearted, comedic way.

This movie isn't going to win any Oscars, but it is amusing and entertaining. After seeing Wilby playing heroes in serious films like Maurice, A Tale of Two Cities, and other weighty, Masterpiece Theater-ish projects, it's fun to see him playing a naughty boy in a comedy.
May 22, 2008

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