Adam Scott has been a huge crush of mine for years now, starting with the best TV show ever made, Parks and Recreation. I think he is a fantastic comedy actor with enough charm and wit to make any project likable. This is definitely the case for Little Evil. While this film has a decent story and other less-than-desirable aspects, Adam Scott makes this movie a very fun and charming "family" adventure, despite many of its flaws.
The best parts about this film were its decent story, performances, and character development. The genre of this film could be classified as a horror-comedy, and for the most part, that definition fits. The first two acts of the film were balanced very well between those two genres and I was really enjoying it. I was not expecting much from the story, given it is a Netflix original, but I am actually impressed by the consistency of the quality. The genre worked great for this movie up until the third act when everything seemed to change. The tone in the water park scene lightened up very much, even though the writing was actually darker than the majority of the movie. This threw me for a loop and messed up the feel of the entire third act of the film, but I still appreciated the writing's effort to bring everything back full-circle. I also liked how the story developed from a "new stepfather struggling to fit in" theme to the more happy ending where they learned to love and accept each other. This plot device was very typical, but it still worked well. The performances in this film were great; Adam Scott was fantastic as Gary, Evangeline Lilly was sub-par as his new wife Samantha, but the best role goes to Owen Atlas, who played the stepson Lucas. He was absolutely terrifying without even saying a word until the ending. This might just be the way he looks, but it worked very well for the scare factor throughout. Adam Scott brought a lot of great humor to this movie as well. It was all very original and entertaining due to his naive and adorable demeanor that he brings to most all of his roles. The editing in this film was very engaging as well. It reminded me a lot of Edgar Wright's style, as there were many quick cuts and exaggerated transitions, and I loved it. Some smaller parts that I also loved were the representation and the special effects. The stepdad therapy group, which ended up assisting Gary in the end, was very diverse and I appreciated that. And the special effects in this film were surprisingly not bad for a Netflix original.
Lack of context and strange pacing were this film's biggest issues. The pacing throughout this movie, like mentioned before, was thrown off by the third act. Lucas began to love his new stepdad and this led into the third act of the film, which felt a lot different than the previous parts. I also was not a fan of how the film opened with one of the most climactic scenes. This might work in a Tarantino movie where the audience does not know what is happening, but it kind of ruined the humorous moment having it right off the bat. Many of the scenes and details in this film did not have any context, which made for some loopholes in the writing. Some of these scenes included when Gary and Al were researching Satanic rituals and when the wedding videographer just so happened to have a video explanation of Lucas's evil powers. There was no background to many of these details, and it made the story a bit lackluster. This lack of context also occurred in Lilly's character Samantha, who conceived Lucas on the night of a demonic cult gathering. This piece of information was so out-of-character for Samantha and I felt like it was a quick excuse for why her son was the literal Antichrist. The character of Samantha was also treated a bit strangely. She is integral to the plot, but was somehow also belittled to the overly-empathetic housewife archetype. I feel that they could have written her a lot better, but she did develop some towards the end which was nice. My final complaint about this movie was how the writers handled the conclusion of the film. Through the story, Gary was meant to get the holy knife and kill Lucas, but if this were to happen, then it would only make the story extremely darker than it needed to be. I am glad they didn't go this route, but they also didn't take any route at all. It felt like they were not sure how to end the film without going too dismal, so they stuck with the tried-and-true happy family ending. This still worked well, but the writers could have put a little more thought into the ending.
Overall, Little Evil is a fun and charming horror-comedy that is definitely rewatchable. While the story suffers from some pacing and character issues, I was still impressed by the performances and character developments. I would recommend this film if you are a fan of Adam Scott or are looking to waste some time but still be entertained.
My Rating: ★★★
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