Rated R
Runtime 128 min
Stream on HBOMax through 2/28/21
Here’s the most basic plot description for The Little Things: two detectives are out to catch a serial killer. One is a veteran black detective, Deke, played by Denzel Washington. The other, Jim, played by Rami Malek, is a young man making a name for himself at the beginning of his career. Jared Leto rounds out the cast as the possible serial killer, Albert Sparma. Sound familiar?
The film runs parallel to Se7en, but it is far from a Fincher knockoff. Instead, John Lee Hancock’s film is what I imagine a noir by Terrence Malick would be. The film is more about the vibe than the story. The first act of the movie is tonal. California in 1990, more specifically, LA. Cars are boxy, payphones are on every corner, and matching the fingerprints at a crime scene to a suspect is the name of the game. We’re not dealing in DNA. The Little Things take place in a world before the OJ trial.
The writer-director John Lee Hancock isn’t interested in solving the crime. So, what is Hancock’s objective? I’m not sure. I sense he wants us to understand detectives and the nature of their work. Although, I can’t say his film does much to enlighten viewers. The headlining cast has four Academy Awards between them. Unfortunately, it does not matter.
Here are my thoughts regarding these “talented” actors’ performances:
- Denzel, do you know your character’s motivations? You are phoning it in, but even that requires basic knowledge.
- Rami starts as a cocksure detective. That’s interesting. But then his character becomes a protege to a former LAPD detective? The Little Things does not deserve his talent.
- Jared plays the quiet creep. He does it well enough. But there isn’t much to his character, so there isn’t much to say about his performance.
There must have been a point in development when this script had potential. The Little Things could have been a part of the zeitgeist or gathered a cult following willing to dissect each scene. But the film is too vague, and the editing is misguided. The story or point is lost. And I blame this entirely on Hancock.
For me, The Little Things is a throwaway. But I’m not mad at it. Having watched it at home, I’m not mourning the loss of time and money going to a theatre. Watch it if you must, though I don’t recommend that you do. The ending is ambiguous at best, a feeling of I want my time back at worst.
