Critics Hated the Film, Audiences Loved It, Now It’s Coming to Netflix on Monday

Serial killer thrillers have long been a reliable genre for pairing acting heavyweights against each other, and few recent examples brought together quite as much combined star power as one 2021 crime drama that’s finally getting a second life on streaming. The film united three Oscar winners under one roof, a rare feat that alone generated significant buzz well before its release.

That film reunited Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto for a cat-and-mouse investigation set against the backdrop of early 1990s Los Angeles, drawing immediate comparisons to David Fincher’s genre-defining classic ‘Se7en.’ Written and directed by John Lee Hancock, the project had actually been decades in the making, with Hancock originally drafting the screenplay back in 1993 before it languished in development for years.

That film, ‘The Little Things,’ is now heading to Netflix, arriving on the platform September 7. Despite a lukewarm critical reception that left the film sitting at 44% on Rotten Tomatoes across 268 reviews, audiences responded considerably more warmly, giving it a 67% Popcornmeter score from more than 1,000 verified ratings.

That gap between critics and viewers has followed the film since its original release, with Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus describing it as an exceptionally well-cast throwback thriller that will feel deeply familiar to genre fans, for better and for worse. Reviews frequently praised the cast’s performances while criticizing the film for leaning too heavily on genre conventions that felt overly familiar to fans of similar detective dramas.

The plot follows Joe “Deke” Deacon, played by Washington, a burnt-out Kern County deputy sheriff sent to Los Angeles on what’s supposed to be a routine assignment. Once there, he becomes entangled in a string of unsolved murders alongside Jim Baxter, a driven LASD sergeant played by Malek, with their investigation eventually leading them to Albert Sparma, an unsettling loner played by Leto who becomes their prime suspect.

Both Malek and Leto have spoken about how demanding it was to inhabit such dark material during filming. Leto explained that playing such an unsettling character came with real psychological costs, saying that filming in that kind of environment “can grab a hold of you and be difficult,” according to Fox News. Malek echoed similar sentiments, noting that the intensity of preparing for his role occasionally bled into his subconscious outside of filming hours.

Washington, for his part, prepared for his role by watching the true-crime series “The First 48,” grounding his performance in the kind of investigative realism that runs throughout the film. That research paid off in a performance many critics singled out as the film’s strongest element, even among reviews that were otherwise mixed on the project as a whole.

The film’s theatrical run was complicated by its January 2021 release date, arriving squarely during the height of pandemic-era moviegoing restrictions. Released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, the film grossed just $30.8 million worldwide against a $30 million production budget, numbers heavily shaped by the limited theatrical capacity available at the time.

That unusual release strategy meant many audiences first experienced the film at home rather than in theaters, which may have contributed to the disconnect between its modest box office performance and its comparatively stronger audience reception once people actually watched it. The film’s ending, which leaves the true identity of the killer deliberately ambiguous, has remained a frequent talking point among viewers revisiting the story years later.

With its ensemble of Oscar winners and its slow-burn approach to psychological tension, ‘The Little Things’ offers new Netflix subscribers a chance to judge for themselves whether the film’s atmosphere and performances outweigh its familiar genre trappings. Fans of detective dramas built around obsession and moral ambiguity may find plenty to appreciate, even if critics remained divided on its overall execution.

‘The Little Things’ begins streaming on Netflix September 7.

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