Three lonely, hormone-riddled nuns. One hunky, lustful gardener. What could go wrong?
No, we’re not describing pornography — we’re talking about The Little Hours, a hilarious dark comedy starring a cavalcade of funny actors like Aubrey Plaza, Molly Shannon, Alison Brie and Dave Franco.
Inspired by The Decameron, a collection of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, The Little Hours is a raunchy comedy that feels like Superbad meets Monty Python meets Bridesmaids.
It takes classic tropes about female sexuality and turns them on their heads for a shocking and enjoyable ride.
Here’s why you should watch this comedy on Peacock.
The Cast Is Full of Comedy A-Listers
Plaza, Shannon, Brie and Franco aren’t the only comedy icons in this film. Even bit parts are played by actors you’ll recognize from your favorite comedy series. John C. Reilly (Winning Time), Kate Micucci (Raising Hope) Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live) and Adam Pally (The Mindy Project) all appear in this film, and each bring their unique flair to the story, even if they’re only onscreen for a few moments.
Written and directed by Plaza’s late husband, Jeff Baena, it’s clear that this low-budget movie was a labor of love for everyone involved, and that they all signed onto the project because they knew they’d have fun making it. The cast has an easy chemistry that’s a pleasure to watch.
The Setting Is Unique
How often do you get to journey back in time to 14th-century Italy? (Well, if you watched Netflix’s The Decameron, at least 8 episodes, but The Little Hours did it first.)
The juxtaposition of modern dialogue with the classical setting is comedy gold. In one scene, the nuns berate a gardener for daring to look at them with expletive-laden ferocity that would make Cardi B blush.
Gender Politics Are at the Heart of the Story
The Little Hours is a story about the structures that allow women to live their lives outside of marriage in a patriarchal society. The nuns live under the supervision of Father Tommasso (Reilly), but he is such an ineffectual drunk that he scarcely exerts any control over them.
When Sister Alessandra (Brie) receives a visit from her father (Paul Reiser), they aren’t even allowed to see each other — she talks to him from behind a curtain. The women are cloistered, shielded from the male gaze and even allowed to express rage at men, like in the aforementioned gardener scene. But they’re still expected to be chaste and deny their own desires.
Some of the women are more content with this status than others — Alessandra is eager to escape the coven and marry, for example. When Massetto (Franco) arrives at the convent, pretending to be deaf and mute to avoid antagonizing the nuns, they see him as a non-threatening man and become sexually interested in him. This quickly turns into a rivalry, turning the nuns against each other.
The characters also encounter a local coven of witches, led by Marta (Jemima Kirke of Girls), that allows even more freedom from male supervision but is often violent.
The Little Hours showcases a variety of extreme ways women might live outside the rules of society — but none of them seem truly satisfying.
For such a silly, raunchy movie, it raises some big questions about whether women can feel safe, free and fulfilled in a patriarchal world.
Watch The Little Hours on Peacock now.
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