Just when you thought expectations needed to be tampered for Greta Gerwig’s likable but slight “Little Women,” here come IndieWire’s Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson now positioning it as a “contender” in several categories, adding that “Greta Gerwig’s studio adaptation of the treasured novel is poised to shake up the Oscar conversation.”
Oof.
There is an embargo for Gerwig’s period piece, although I’ve already shared cryptic thoughts about it. I am, suffice to say, not a huge fan of what Gerwig was trying to do here. And yet, Kohn and Thompson are jumping on-board the Oscar train for “Little Women.” Thompson says the film feels very “contemporary” in its depiction of marriage, and that it feels like a modern-day adaptation of May Louise Alcott’s classic novel, despite the “old-school vernacular.”
Meanwhile, Kohn says the film tackled the “creative role of women in society and the degree to which finances are the underpinning towards whether a woman is free. It’s still a thing today.” I guess? I mean, Alcott’s novel is somewhat about that, but there are far worthier and more modern takes to be done on these topics. Gerwig definitely does tackle the thematic resonance Alcott brought to her novel, but it just feels so pedantic and, yes, commercial in its approach. Kohn st least agrees with me on this by saying it’s very much a “commercial movie” and that it is “not arthouse, it’s a mainstream movie.”
Another major issue I had with “Little Women” is that its first half is a mess and it takes 70 or so minutes to really get you a bit involved in its story. Kohn seems to agree with me on this by saying that “it takes a little bit of time to really get going.”
Finally, we’re getting somewhere here.
Thompson and Kohn both think “Little Women” could be a box-office hit. Are you serious? I’m right now, in this column, predicting that its box-office will fall flat. I don’t believe mainstream moviegoers have an interest in a movie that seems to live in a world where it desperately wants a pat on the back from social media. I also don’t believe that Chalamet, Ronan, and Waston have as much box-office clout as the folks at IndieWire are suggesting. Sure, these actors have their major fanbases on social media, but I do not think the number of fans is enough to carry this film into becoming a hit with American audiences.