'The Little Things' A Review

 The Little Things is crime thriller about a former LA detective now deputy sheriff of a rural county Joe(Denzel Washington) who's asked to pick up some evidence in LA, the visit draws him back into one of his cold cases as there are ongoing murders with the same MO being investigated by up-and-coming LA detective Jim(Rami Malek) and the two form a begrudging partnership. Through mostly suposition they land on an exceedingly greasy and obvious suspect Albert(Jared Leto) although actual evidence is in short supply.

Washington, one of greatest living actors, is of course great. His ability to be in the moment, to be authentic, to infer loads of information and character dimension continues to be marvelous to watch, unfortunately his choice of material in recent years hasn't consistently been up to his talent and this script is one that is not up to his level. Malek is miscast as this strait laced, driven detective not given much if any room to do what he does best- eccentricity. Malek is an odd actor and casting him here against type as some kind of 90's cop everyman simply doesn't work, he's too constrained, too muted. Leto is either miscast or simply not directed as his performance is all telegraphing guilt, unjustifiable creepiness, and a put-upon artifice that comes across as glaringly fake. From his clearly padded stomach to his obviously fake duck walk nothing about it conveys that the character is an actual person, it is Jared Leto the actor giving a capital P Performance.

Writer/director John Lee Hancock has said he wrote the script in 1993 and that is unfortunately very obvious, it is clearly directly inspired by Seven and Silence Of The Lambs and doesn't take into account in the wake of those films copycats were made for the subsequent fifteen years. At this point the narrative is a retread of a retread and offers no new insights or discoveries on the serial killer vs. driven detective theme. It is set in 1990 and the cars, costumes, and look all work(aside from Malek's inexplicably modern tailored suit). But the solid production and slick look can't elevate what is a tired, unoriginal script.

All of Washington's considerable powers can't elevate The Little Things beyond the mundane.

Currently streaming on HBO Max.

Don't See It.