Normally, this is the kind of movie I really like; the genre, the look, the cast. But somehow “The Little Things” goes down as a disappointment. Not for lack of talent. I mean three Oscar winners in the cast, all of whom deliver exactly the performances you expect from them.
Denzel Washington, at his Denzeliest, plays Joe “Deke” Deacon, a beaten and haunted man – you can tell by the gait of his walk. Once a Los Angeles homicide detective who surely wore civilian clothes, these days he’s a County Sheriff’s Deputy in a rural area well north of L.A., wearing a uniform that looks like a school custodian’s. There’s been a fall from grace.
Sent on an errand back to his old stomping grounds to pick up a piece of evidence, he meets the hot shot detective who essentially took his place, played by Rami Malek. He’s heard of the notorious Deke and entices him to weigh in on an unsolved serial killer.
From there, we initially head into odd couple territory before the two become off-the-books partners working on the case. Jared Leto, who can sometimes go too far, sets the super-creepy tone of the possible killer just about perfectly. He’s come up with a particular voice for this character that, to my ears, sounds exactly the way a creepy-looking guy like that would.
So, as is my rule, I won’t go into any specifics that would be “spoilers,” but I’ll say that the problems are at the screenplay level. The parts that seem familiar are too derivative of so many films in the genre that have come before this one. And the other parts are simply too slow.
Writer/director John Lee Hancock’s worst instincts counteract the actors’ best instincts. That doesn’t make The Little Things horrible, just unexceptional as a whole. Production credits are pro all the way. This wasn’t a rinky-dink operation.
2 out of 4 stars. Rated R, for violent/disturbing images, language and full nudity.
Running time: 2 hours, 8 minutes. Reviewed by Kyle Osborne. Playing in some theaters and also playing on HBO Max through March 1st. Images courtesy: Warner Bros
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