The Atlantic

The Big Charm of Marsai Martin’s <em>Little</em>

An inversion of Tom Hanks’s classic body-switch movie, <em>Big</em>, the film is<em> </em>a delightful vehicle for the 14-year-old actor, who also served as executive producer.
Source: Eli Joshua Adé / Universal Pictures

In the 1988 Tom Hanks film Big, a 12-year-old boy named Josh Baskin (David Moscow) changes his life forever to impress an older girl. After being told that he’s too short for a carnival ride, he enters a strange arcade machine and earnestly wishes to be “big.” The following day, Josh wakes up as a 30-year-old man (played by Hanks), whose initial confusion about the corporeal switch later gives way to comedic hijinks and wholesome reflection.

The chief location for Big Josh’s fast-tracking into adulthood is the company where he finds work soon after the

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic5 min readSocial History
The Pro-life Movement’s Not-So-Secret Plan for Trump
Sign up for The Decision, a newsletter featuring our 2024 election coverage. Donald Trump has made no secret of the fact that he regards his party’s position on reproductive rights as a political liability. He blamed the “abortion issue” for his part
The Atlantic6 min read
The Happy Way to Drop Your Grievances
Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. In 15th-century Germany, there was an expression for a chronic complainer: Greiner, Zanner, which can be translated as “whiner-grumbler.” It was no
The Atlantic5 min readAmerican Government
What Nikki Haley Is Trying to Prove
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Nikki Haley faces terrible odds in her home state of

Related Books & Audiobooks