‘The Little Things’ Review: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek Shine In This Neo-Noir Thriller

The Little Things, the new Denzel Washington movie opening simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max this Friday, opens with a scene that you’ve seen a thousand times before. A young girl is driving alone at night in the middle of nowhere. Another car starts tailing her, harassing her, and chasing her. She pulls over at a gas station, screaming for help. The doors are locked. No one is there. If you’ve read the movie synopsis—that Washington and Rami Malek are cops hunting down a serial killer—you’re almost sure of what’s about to happen. But then it doesn’t. Instead of a gruesome, off-screen murder, the girl flags down a truck driver and the scene ends. It’s refreshingly unexpected, but it’s also confusing. You don’t immediately learn what happened to her, nor is it clear how she fits into the story until much later. That pretty much sums up the vibe of The Little Things: an unexpected take on the crime thriller genre, but one that gets a tad muddled along the way.

Our story is set in Los Angeles in 1990, a time when plot-hole-creating devices like cell phones and DNA testing didn’t exist. Washington stars as Joe “Deke” Deacon, a local Kern County deputy sheriff who gets called upon to pick up some evidence from the Los Angeles Police Department. Deacon has a reputation in the area, and we later learn it’s because he became consumed by a serial killer case that ruined his health, his marriage, and his career. For mumbo-jumbo cop jargon reasons, Deacon has to stay in Los Angeles an extra night. That’s all the time he needs to get sucked into a new serial killer case, led by detective Jimmy Baxter (Malek). It’s not entirely clear why Baxter invites Deacon to accompany him to the crime scene of a serial killer victim—a murder date, if you will—but he does. After that, Deacon is all in. He cashes in on his vacation days and stays in LA to help Baxter solve the case. Eventually, they narrow down their suspects to an odd man named Albert (Jared Leto). Both Deacon and Baxter have a gut feeling about Albert. Now they just need evidence.

Writer/director John Lee Hancock knows he’s got incredible talent on his hands, and he puts it to good use. Denzel Washington and Rami Malek are electric in their one-on-one scenes; you can’t look away. It’s clear by the film’s end that these two men have come to care deeply about one and another, bonded by their compulsive obsessions. It’s a pleasure to watch two powerhouses—one a celebrated veteran, the other a rising star—do their thing together, so much so that you almost wish The Little Things were a more traditional buddy cop saga, just to have more time with those characters. They’re best when they’re not sharing the screen with Leto—the actor’s public persona too often blends with his creepy characters, but even factoring for that, he doesn’t seem to be on the same page as his co-stars.

Hancock and DP John Schwartzman find some beautiful shots and transitions to give The Little Things a neo-noir feel, but the script often fails to measure up. Even without cell phones, there are plot holes. Why would the LAPD allow a Kern County sheriff with a less-than-favorable reputation to interrogate suspects and collect evidence on such an important case, one that he’s not officially on? Tonally, the film can be confusing. In one scene Washington is haunted and stoic, in the next, he’s slamming suspects against walls. Hancock skips over the emotional character build-up that would have made that make sense. When you get to the end, you’ll realize the ambiguity was at least partially by design. But you can’t help but wonder how many viewers will give up before they get to the pay-off, especially given how many will be watching on HBO Max.

I’d encourage viewers to stick it out. Those expecting a straightforward crime thriller will be disappointed. But those who are ready to critique the genre will be given something to chew on. While it’s hard to know if this was Hancock’s intention, I came away from The Little Things pondering the way fictional crime mysteries have negatively affected real-life police work. The Little Things is a movie with something to say. Though it stumbles on the execution, you have to admire the effort.

Watch The Little Things on HBO Max