The Little Things
Warner Bros. | Release Date: January 29, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 48 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
24
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 27, 2021
Malek and Washington are electric together in this atmospheric, moody thriller that will keep you guessing and on the edge of the proverbial seat (or living room sofa). You won’t be able to shake this one off for a very long time. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramJan 26, 2021
Led by a trio of Oscar winners knocking it out of the park, The Little Things is a murky must-see. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 29, 2021
As a character study, The Little Things works. As a thriller, it’s a mixed bag and individual preferences will determine whether to classify the resolution as exhilarating or annoying. Read full review
75
ABC NewsPeter TraversJan 29, 2021
Despite widening gaps of logic in its slow-burn mystery plot, this twisty, killer-on-the-loose, dark-night-of-the-soul thriller features top turns from Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as L.A. cops chasing a psycho, played by a scary and diabolically funny Jared Leto. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 28, 2021
Though he crafts a story worthy of a thriller, Hancock’s main concerns here are twofold: the type of personality drawn to this kind of police work, and the effect this work has on them. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 26, 2021
Especially in its upending, pivoting-away-from-crime norms, morally ambiguous ending, Hancock’s picture reveals itself to have much more on its mind than expected, and becomes a thoughtful meditation on the rigors of police work and the psychic toll that it takes on the soul. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 26, 2021
In the absence of a clean ending, then, what's left is the familiar intrigue of smart men squinting dolefully at distant horizons and bloodied crime scenes, an ocean of bottled-up feeling, and a movie that takes a good half of its secrets to the grave. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 26, 2021
The Little Things is pulpy and ridiculous and requires some major suspension of belief, but — if you didn’t know any better — you might even say it’s beautiful. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJan 28, 2021
The Little Things has a couple of hair-raising scenes and a few nifty, low-key twists in store, though little about the overall experience of watching it can really be called surprising. I don’t mean that as a knock. The pleasures and comforts of crime fiction, even with the built-in expectations of suspense and revelation, are not always dependent on novelty. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 26, 2021
If the director's generally taut original screenplay settles on an ending too cryptic to be fully satisfying, the performances of Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as cops from the old school and the new who end up having more in common than they anticipated supply enough glue to hold everything together. Add in Jared Leto as the taunting weirdo who becomes their prime suspect in a series of brutal murders, and you have a suspenseful crime thriller with a dark allure. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 26, 2021
It’s got an interesting structure — it’s not just about catching a killer but also about revealing Deke’s story. But it ultimately suffers for that, the dueling narratives not blending together so much as competing. Of course, you could do worse than watch actors like Washington, Malek and Leto work. But at the end of The Little Things, you feel like you could do better, too. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakJan 28, 2021
The case here is secondary to the lengths its protagonists will go to solve it. It’s about the paranoia that builds when a lead seems good and the demons that take control of our actions once the system proves ill-equipped to dole out the justice we “know” to be deserved. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jan 26, 2021
To enjoy the film on its own cookie-cutter terms depends on finding pleasure, guilty or otherwise, in tropes recycled with total straight-faced conviction. Or maybe to crave comfort food of a variety Hollywood doesn’t churn out quite as frequently as it used to. Read full review
65
PolygonRobert DanielsJan 26, 2021
Hancock, in what might be his best film, grazes with greatness by constructing an enthralling thriller that relies on the talent of its three leading men to mine regret for mystery. But the mawkish little habits, the slow start, and the timid finale just barely get Hancock caught. It’s the little things that tear The Little Things apart. Read full review
65
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJan 26, 2021
As entertaining as it may be to revel in the 1990s setting of it all, not updating the script makes The Little Things feel stale. The bad guys are one-note creeps; the men are stoic and violent; the women only exist to be either background noise or helpless victims. Even some 30 years ago all of this would’ve felt dated. Today, The Little Things has even less to offer. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 29, 2021
The movie’s a watchable affair for most of the running time, not so much subverting cliches of the serial-killer genre as keeping the audience in suspense as to how, if, and when those cliches will be observed. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJan 27, 2021
It boasts a sterling main cast — Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto — as well as open-endedness that is simultaneously pleasurable and a bit unsettling, in both the good and bad senses of that word. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleJan 27, 2021
An almost sturdy, often gripping genre exercise that ultimately doesn’t find enough fresh material in the serial killer procedural to warrant its blast from a stylish and shlocky past. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 26, 2021
Its the pleasure of this cast’s company — grounded, detailed performances with a flourish here and there — that make this otherwise routine thriller pay off. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJan 26, 2021
Hancock (The Blind Side, The Founder) keeps the action moving briskly and with little tonal confusion, highlighting just what a polished studio-favoured professional can do when given gobs of money and zero intellectual-property obligations. And his trio of leading men are all given ample space to play to their strengths. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeMar 16, 2021
As the detectives start to lose the plot, so does the film, fizzling into an unravelling tangle of loose ends. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsFeb 2, 2021
The Little Things settles sleekly into its place as a movie of the week. That’s a satisfying enough ambition — even as the actors onscreen give performances that point to a richer, wilder movie. Read full review
60
Screen RantDebopriyaa DuttaJan 29, 2021
Although helmed by Washington’s visceral performance & nostalgia-addled slow-burn, The Little Things eventually falters due to its own clichéd tropes. Read full review
60
The AtlanticDavid SimsJan 28, 2021
Even the most mundane moments in The Little Things aren’t enough to stifle Washington’s star power. Almost nothing is. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 28, 2021
Thanks to Hancock’s craft and the discipline of the actors, it’s more than watchable, but you are unlikely to be haunted, disturbed or even surprised. You haven’t exactly seen this before. It just feels that way. Read full review
58
Paste MagazineChris StantonJan 29, 2021
If it’s hard to shake the feeling that The Little Things strives to be Se7en or Zodiac, it still manages to satisfy in a meat-and-potatoes sort of way, delivering its twists and turns effectively while having the confidence to not wrap things up too neatly by the end of its runtime. Read full review
55
CNNBrian LowryJan 28, 2021
Ultimately, The Little Things meanders a bit too much with stakeouts and the drudgery of police work before getting to the meat of its psychological core, which offers a provocative payoff, if not perhaps one good enough to fully justify the journey. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 30, 2021
It doesn’t entirely earn its twists, in part because it botches both the whodunit elements and the psychology of its characters. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJan 29, 2021
It’s fun to see Washington square off against a brace of performers who could not resemble him less in bearing and tone. Read full review
50
Original-CinLiam LaceyJan 27, 2021
The parts of The Little Things that are good aren’t original, and the parts that are original aren’t good. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 26, 2021
Because The Little Things is so indebted to the tenets of its genre, it can only succeed by bringing originality and a fresh perspective to the whodunit. Unfortunately, this film becomes a victim of its uninspired construction — which ends up being no small thing. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittJan 26, 2021
The movie's exploration of obsession and a sliding scale of what’s right vs. what’s wrong is among the aspects that Little Things does well. And there’s always some positive with Washington in a thriller like this. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJan 26, 2021
John Lee Hancock’s The Little Things blends two modes of the serial killer film, both of which have been shepherded by David Fincher. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJan 26, 2021
It’s a movie that's constantly on the verge of developing into something as intense and haunting as writer/director John Lee Hancock wants it to be, but it never achieves its goals, especially in its final half-hour. Some of the major stuff here works, including a performance from Washington that’s better than the movie around it (yet again), some striking L.A. cinematography, and an effective score, but one could say that it’s the little things that hold it back. A few big things too. Read full review
50
IGNTom JorgensenJan 26, 2021
It’s disappointing to see a triad of talented actors like Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto wasted in The Little Things, a straightforward and seldom surprising murder-mystery. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesTara BradyMar 12, 2021
The quality of the staff only sets the viewer wondering why they all signed up for this. And that’s before the late, sigh-making twist. It’ll do well enough for fans of 1990s artefacts. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMar 12, 2021
The main disappointment, other than female characters who only exist to be disposed of, comes from recognising the kernel of something unusual buried in the film’s marrow. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 29, 2021
I owned a deep sense of discomfort (which the movie means us to feel) that gave way to increasing boredom until the search led to an appliance repair store in a seamy area of the San Fernando Valley, and to one of its employees, Albert Sparma, the suspect played by Mr. Leto. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleJan 28, 2021
Whatever points The Little Things scores for a morally ambiguous ending are washed away in the hours it takes to get there. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJan 26, 2021
Some of The Little Things’ little things, like the nuances of Washington’s performance, are outstanding. This film is a reminder that the big things are important, too. Read full review
40
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 26, 2021
This sort of clinical detective movie hinges on creating a feeling of revelation, a kind of horror-saturated awe. The Little Things is just a warmed-over set of serial-killer-thriller clichés, like crime-scene photos we’ve seen before. And some of it doesn’t track all that well. Read full review
40
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJan 26, 2021
The Little Things is somehow both lazy and overly adorned, a lugubrious movie that spends all its indulgence on the easiest, most obvious of tropes. Read full review
40
EmpireDan JolinJan 26, 2021
A throwback thriller which brings nothing new to a crowded genre, and has little to say along the way. They don’t make ’em like this anymore, and, to be honest, they probably shouldn’t. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 26, 2021
It’s a film trapped between a low- and a highbrow version of a story we know all too well, landing firmly in the middle of the road. Read full review
38
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJan 29, 2021
A couple of grand, intriguing ideas does not a movie make. Say it with me, folks: It’s the little things. Read full review
30
SlateMatthew DessemJan 29, 2021
Maybe the movie would work better if, like Se7en, it were set in an unnamed noir city instead of a real police department with real abuses, or if the script relied on more than genre shorthand to sell its noxious ending. As things stand, however, the only way to enjoy The Little Things is to ignore the big things. Read full review
30
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 26, 2021
Overall, The Little Things — which is how Deke refers to the details that lead to killers being caught — isn’t much of anything. Read full review
25
ConsequenceValerie ComplexJan 28, 2021
It’s a miserable experience — a dull, dated copy of something we’ve seen before — and takes way too long to ever get moving. (It never really does.) In the end, an unimaginative script and underutilized actors make The Little Things as trivial as the title implies. Read full review
More From This Movie

54 Critic Reviews

5.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL