Uneven acting mars the effect of ‘Little Things’

Above: Oscar-winners Denzel Washington and Rami Malek star in "The Little Things." (Photo: HBO)

Movie review: "The Little Things," written and directed by John Lee Hancock, starring Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto. Streaming on HBO Max.

It’s not that often that three Oscar-winning actors face off in a film. Yet that’s exactly what happens in “The Little Things,” a police procedural written and directed by John Lee Hancock.

Now streaming on HBO Max, “The Little Things” features two-time Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, matched up with Rami Malek and Jared Leto. And for the record, let’s note the obvious: Washington, an eight-time Oscar nominee, was named Best Supporting Actor for 1989’s “Glory” and Best Actor for 2001’s “Training Day.” Malek was so riveting as Queen front-man Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody” that he snared the 2019 Best Actor statuette, while Leto took him his Best Supporting Actor award for 2013’s “Dallas Buyer’s Club.”

So much for past performances. The three now play off one another in Hancock’s story about the pursuit of a serial killer that is as much about recrimination and self-doubt as it is any sort of an attempt to seek a lasting sense of justice.

Washington plays Joe “Deke” Deacon, once a hotshot Los Angeles police investigator who – for reason that ultimately become clear – has been banished to some rural California sheriff’s station. Tasked by his captain to return to his former precinct to pick up some evidence, he gets ensnared in an investigation that recalls the very events that led to his expulsion.

That investigation involves the deaths of several young women. And it is headed up by the latest department wunderkind, Jim Baxter (played by Malek), who – after an awkward ego-measuring intro – invites Deacon to tag along while he checks out the latest crime scene. If nothing else, Baxter is man enough to recognize that he might be able to profit from Deacon’s experience – might being the operative descriptor.

Their target ends up being a creepy guy named Albert Sparma (played by Leto). I almost typed “naturally played by Leto” because, as he has in the past – not just in his Oscar-winning turn but also in his depiction of The Joker in 2016’s “The Suicide Squad” – Leto has a Joaquin Phoenix-like tendency to disappear into his roles. Method acting tends to require that kind of devotion.

Sparma is that kind of character so popular in serial-killer studies, from “Se7en” to “Silence of the Lambs” – weird, charismatic and seemingly so skilled at what he does that it’s nigh impossible for investigators to get a handle on him. At least within the boundaries of legal police protocol.

Which, of course, is the crux of what fuels the relationship between Deacon and Baxter, what with Deacon – haunted by his past failures – ready and willing to do anything to get his man, pushing Baxter toward making the same kinds of misdeeds, all in the name of … well, there’s that term again – justice. And as in any study of legal short-cuts, we all know that some sort of reckoning is coming.

The conceit that writer-director Hancock uses to bind all this is a 1990s setting, one that requires cops to use phone booths and the checking of paper records instead of computer searches. And it only partially works, his film feeling more unstuck in time than anything – especially given the fact that such songs as Mary Wells’ “My Guy” and Peggy March’s “I Will Follow Him” are both anachronistic and too obvious references to what we see unfolding on screen.

Washington, as you would expect, puts in his usual fine performance. Unlike his showy acting in “Training Day,” here his Deacon is more like the characters he has portrayed in such recent films as “The Book of Eli” and “The Equalizer” – driven but tormented by his past. Leto is effective, hidden under his zombie-like demeanor and fake gut, though his ability to outwit his pursuers is a bit too hard to believe.

The biggest problem for me, though – other than the film’s ultimate ambiguous message about the nature of right and wrong – is Malek. So good in the role that brought him his first fame, the USA Network series “Mr. Robot,” Malek was equally remarkable as Mercury. But the very qualities that make him special detract from his attempts – at least in “The Little Things” – to portray an otherwise normal character. For much of the film, Malek’s Baxter seems like some sort of extraterrestrial being, not someone who in any way would be entrusted with a high-profile murder investigation.

All of which just goes to show you: Not every actor, regardless of inherent talent, can pull off every role. The best of actors, from Marlon Brando and Laurence Olivier to Bette Davis and even Meryl Streep, have proven that.

John Lee Hancock might have realized it, too, had he paid just slightly more attention to the advice that Deacon preaches to Baxter: “It's the little things that are important, Jimmy. It's the little things that get you caught.”