by Josh Sewell
John Lee Hancock isn’t a household name, but the journeyman filmmaker had a hand in crafting a surprising number of your dad’s favorite movies. His biggest success as a writer-director is probably The Blind Side, which nabbed a Best Picture nomination and won Sandra Bullock an Oscar for Best Actress. However, he also wrote Clint Eastwood’s 1993 poignant A Perfect World and directed compelling dramas including The Rookie, Saving Mr. Banks, The Founder and The Highwaymen.
His latest is The Little Things, a solid, if somewhat derivative, crime thriller that fits snugly into his Dad Movie oeuvre. It feels designed in a lab to play endlessly on TNT, aside from the fact that it’s going straight to HBO Max (in addition to a limited theatrical release). The plot is mostly unremarkable, but it gets a significant boost from a cast that includes three Oscar winners and a host of terrific character actors.
Denzel Washington plays Joe “Deke” Deacon, a former Los Angeles detective who traded in that stressful life for a job as a sheriff’s deputy in a sleepy little town. However, when he’s sent back to his old department for a quick evidence-gathering assignment, he ends up getting drawn into a murder investigation led by the determined Sergeant Jim Baxter (Rami Malek).
The two men clash initially, but they develop a mutual admiration and agree to work together to track a killer whose methods remind Deke of an unsolved case he left behind. When creepy repairman Albert Sparma (Jared Leto) pops up on their radar as a potential suspect, a number of disturbing secrets bubble to the surface that threaten their careers and lives.
Hancock has said in interviews that he wrote The Little Things right after he got his big break with A Perfect World, but he’s been trying to get it made for nearly 30 years. That explains why the story takes place in the 1990s, which allows Hancock to sidestep modern technology and breakthroughs in DNA evidence that would make the central mystery a nonstarter.
If Hancock had gotten to make the film back when it was written, it might feel a lot fresher than it does now. However, after decades of dark serial killer entertainment, it feels rote. (He had to be frustrated when David Fincher’s Seven became a huge hit in 1995 and Criminal Minds ran for 15 seasons on CBS.) Granted, The Little Things does some interesting things to deviate from the formula along the way, but I can’t really get into that without delving into spoiler territory.
Fortunately, watching excellent actors who can carry this material in their sleep helps the movie get through most of the trite or sluggish moments. Washington is fantastic as always, playing the kind of character we’ve seen before yet differentiating him through a lot of small but intriguing choices – specifically in mannerisms and his interplay with his fellow actors. The final moment in a scene where Deke pays an unannounced visit to his ex-wife is both atypically funny and speaks volumes about the kind of person he is.
Malek is good too, although he carries so much baggage from previous roles that it’s tough to buy him as a straightlaced, workaholic family man. He’s played so many oddballs that I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course, I won’t reveal whether that happens or not, but it makes me wonder how the movie plays on repeat viewings.
Leto is better than he’s been in recent roles (let’s never speak of Suicide Squad or the Joker), but he’s once again so focused on being “out there” that it affects the reality of the film’s world. Sure, he’s great at being creepy, but it makes it tough to believe someone like Sparma stayed off cops’ radars so long. Hancock throws in a few spoilery lines of dialogue in an attempt to explain, but it doesn’t fly.
Fortunately, incorporating reliable character actors like Chris Bauer, Terry Kinney, Michael Hyatt, Natalie Morales and Glenn Morshower into practically every scene means The Little Things is a movie that’s never boring even if it keeps veering into clichéd territory. Hancock also finishes strong with an ending I honestly didn’t see coming, which made me reassess the film I thought I was watching when I was actually getting something else entirely.
In a more traditional year, The Little Things might’ve been considered the kind of flick that gets dumped in January because the studio doesn’t know how to market it. But in this case, hitting HBO Max in the middle of a pandemic when audiences are starved for new entertainment with recognizable actors might be the best thing that could’ve happened to it.
The Little Things is rated R for violent/disturbing images, language and full nudity. Opens January 29 in select theaters and also available on HBO Max.
Grade: B-
His latest is The Little Things, a solid, if somewhat derivative, crime thriller that fits snugly into his Dad Movie oeuvre. It feels designed in a lab to play endlessly on TNT, aside from the fact that it’s going straight to HBO Max (in addition to a limited theatrical release). The plot is mostly unremarkable, but it gets a significant boost from a cast that includes three Oscar winners and a host of terrific character actors.
Denzel Washington plays Joe “Deke” Deacon, a former Los Angeles detective who traded in that stressful life for a job as a sheriff’s deputy in a sleepy little town. However, when he’s sent back to his old department for a quick evidence-gathering assignment, he ends up getting drawn into a murder investigation led by the determined Sergeant Jim Baxter (Rami Malek).
The two men clash initially, but they develop a mutual admiration and agree to work together to track a killer whose methods remind Deke of an unsolved case he left behind. When creepy repairman Albert Sparma (Jared Leto) pops up on their radar as a potential suspect, a number of disturbing secrets bubble to the surface that threaten their careers and lives.
Hancock has said in interviews that he wrote The Little Things right after he got his big break with A Perfect World, but he’s been trying to get it made for nearly 30 years. That explains why the story takes place in the 1990s, which allows Hancock to sidestep modern technology and breakthroughs in DNA evidence that would make the central mystery a nonstarter.
If Hancock had gotten to make the film back when it was written, it might feel a lot fresher than it does now. However, after decades of dark serial killer entertainment, it feels rote. (He had to be frustrated when David Fincher’s Seven became a huge hit in 1995 and Criminal Minds ran for 15 seasons on CBS.) Granted, The Little Things does some interesting things to deviate from the formula along the way, but I can’t really get into that without delving into spoiler territory.
Fortunately, watching excellent actors who can carry this material in their sleep helps the movie get through most of the trite or sluggish moments. Washington is fantastic as always, playing the kind of character we’ve seen before yet differentiating him through a lot of small but intriguing choices – specifically in mannerisms and his interplay with his fellow actors. The final moment in a scene where Deke pays an unannounced visit to his ex-wife is both atypically funny and speaks volumes about the kind of person he is.
Malek is good too, although he carries so much baggage from previous roles that it’s tough to buy him as a straightlaced, workaholic family man. He’s played so many oddballs that I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course, I won’t reveal whether that happens or not, but it makes me wonder how the movie plays on repeat viewings.
Leto is better than he’s been in recent roles (let’s never speak of Suicide Squad or the Joker), but he’s once again so focused on being “out there” that it affects the reality of the film’s world. Sure, he’s great at being creepy, but it makes it tough to believe someone like Sparma stayed off cops’ radars so long. Hancock throws in a few spoilery lines of dialogue in an attempt to explain, but it doesn’t fly.
Fortunately, incorporating reliable character actors like Chris Bauer, Terry Kinney, Michael Hyatt, Natalie Morales and Glenn Morshower into practically every scene means The Little Things is a movie that’s never boring even if it keeps veering into clichéd territory. Hancock also finishes strong with an ending I honestly didn’t see coming, which made me reassess the film I thought I was watching when I was actually getting something else entirely.
In a more traditional year, The Little Things might’ve been considered the kind of flick that gets dumped in January because the studio doesn’t know how to market it. But in this case, hitting HBO Max in the middle of a pandemic when audiences are starved for new entertainment with recognizable actors might be the best thing that could’ve happened to it.
The Little Things is rated R for violent/disturbing images, language and full nudity. Opens January 29 in select theaters and also available on HBO Max.
Grade: B-
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