The Little Things (Film Review)

2021 Warner Bros. Pictures
Written and Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, and Natalie Morales
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 127 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 4/10

It's 1990, and some creep has gotten away with murdering girls in Los Angeles for the last five years. Joe Deacon used to be on the case, but burnt out badly, destroying his personal life in the process. Now, Detective Jim Baxter is on the case. The only thing is, Baxter seems to be burning out himself. Thankfully, though, there's a light on the horizon. Baxter has a suspect, the creepy Albert Sparma. While there's no direct evidence that Sparma is actually the culprit, Sparma sure seems like a murderous creep, perfectly fitting the suspect profile. Luckily...or perhaps unluckily for Baxter, Deacon just happens to be back in town to help. Can this duo find evidence to put Sparma behind bars, and keep the young women of Los Angeles safe?
Who cares. Back when people were able to go to movie theaters, January was the studio dumping ground for cinematic trash. Due to COVID-19, that early year trash is instead just coming to streaming services, in this case, HBO Max. The decidedly trash The Little Things offers little of value, other than some thick, dark atmosphere, and admittedly excellent cinematography of a 90's-for-no-reason Los Angeles. It does also offer predictably good performances from its three leads, but at the service of nothing, as the film does little to make the viewer care about any of them. The Little Things sticks these three actors in the most generic police procedural possible, with absolutely nothing standing out in the story, except for moments of plotting stupidity. The film goes on for two hours and it ends, and it's not worth it for me to waste another word about it here. Watch something else.