The Little Hours

In "The Decameron", Boccaccio writes about a group of travelers trying to avoid the plague. While hanging out together, they tell various stories to pass the time. Many of the stories are sexual and crude...something that might surprise some readers about 14th century literature. "The Little Hours" is based on a couple of these stories and the overtone of the film fits in with Boccaccio's vision.

The setting is in a cloister with some nuns who pretty obviously DON'T want to be nuns. This isn't really hard to believe, as during that time, unwanted and unwed daughters were often forced into nunneries...that, or face starvation. The story centers on three of them...three very worldly nuns who seem less interested in piety and more on sex, drinking and even witchcraft!! Into the midst of these wicked nuns is introduced a new groundskeeper...one who supposedly is deaf. And, being unable to speak or hear, the fleshly women, one by one, have their way with this handsome man. What's next? See the film.

This film clearly is a rated R film, as it's almost completely focused on sex. There is some nudity, but not nearly as much as their could have been....especially with "The Decameron".

So is it any good? It's okay...modestly enjoyable and worth seeing if you want something very different. A most unusual film..and while it might easily offend you, that IS "The Decameron"...a story filled with lots of lusty tales...100 of them (hence the name).

With such a fantastic cast and an interesting premise, I really expected this to be better that it was. Hypersexual nuns at a convent is a fun gag, but it runs out of steam fairly early on. Given all of the comedic talent involved, I should have laughed a lot more than I did. There are some amusing moments, but they pop up far less often than necessary.

If you are someone who delights in a parody of religion and piety then this will tickle your pink bits. Laugh out loud moments. A delightful surprise.

My extensive experience with nuns in grammar school taught me that their sexual repression as it affected us was a life-long gift leaving us to search for the goodness of sex and the secrets of females. Jeff Baena's The Little hours confirms what we always suspected: The younger nuns and postulants actually had firm breasts and world-class hormones.

Handyman Masseto (Dave Franco) hides in a convent in 1347 medieval Italy as a deaf mute (no doubt the way some women consider men anyway). Malaspina Castle would remind you of the iconic castle in Monty Python and The Holy Grail, and their English vernacular evokes the abandon of Mel Brooks' several satires. While the young nuns explore their interest in the forbidden, especially sex of several kinds, the jokes are weak by comparison with Python, Brooks, and even Boccaccio's Decameron, on which this film is loosely based.

Not just the randy nuns and handyman violate the Church's dictates against freewheeling sex, the venerable overseer, Father Tomasso (John C. Reilly), is carrying on with an older nun while listening to the salacious details of the younger nuns' sins in confession. Reilly is always competent displaying a simple man's wonder at the underbelly of the world.

In grammar school a nun shouted me out for holding a girl's hand, calling me a "dirty thing." I had more laughs over that kerfuffle than during The Little Hours, where laughs are in limited supply while the parody of sanctimonious medieval religiosity is mildly rich. But not rich enough to eclipse the wit of Python and Brooks.

"I did 12 years with nuns, you know. So I came out of it going, like, 'I think Jesus is all right.' The rest of it I think stinks to the high heavens." Denis Leary

This movie is just... Weird. I don't know how to explain it any more without giving stuff away. It's trippy. If you like the cast, I'd recommend you watch it, because you'll just enjoy their performances.