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  Average Rating for Little Children [2006] - 2 out of 5

  
  (based on 1 user reviews)
• Little Children [2006]

  Barnaby Walter 29 July 2008

  

  Little Children, stylishly adapted from the Tom Perrotta novel, functions more or less as a social drama with two, somewhat difficult main themes in the centre: Adultery and Paedophilia. A wonderfully transformed Kate Winslet takes residence on screen as Sarah; a wife and mother whose life in upper middle-class suburbia is proving unsatisfying and solitary. She doesn't fit in with the other mums at the playground; she's bored and tired but remains sweetly loyal to her husband. This changes, however, when she discovers her husband's habit for internet girls. The splinter this causes in their marriage leaves a gap ready to be filled by good-looking, non-working, kid-caring Brad (Patrick Wilson), who seems to be perfect in nearly every way: hansom, intellectual, kind, loving. What starts as a fling between them develops into something ultimately more seductive and deep.
  However, Brad and Sarah's affair is not the only gossip stirring the already rippling rumour pond of this well-trimmed Boston suburb. A convicted Paedophile has been released onto the community, a fact which isn't greeted by the local residence with celebration. Living with his elderly mother, the man in question is tempted by his previous distractions all too quickly, which leads to a tense swimming pool scene and the film's disturbing final act.
  The filming style is glossy and almost as seductive as the main love story. However, the film's main problem for me is the lack of deeper substance and its habit of straying into the predictable. The acting manages to save the film from sinking beneath a tide of hysteria, but it is not enough to keep together the unsatisfying feeling of something missing from the story. Whether what it needs is a more convincing conclusion or a plot turn or two, it is hard to tell. The title itself is intelligent enough when seen in relation to the plot. "Little Children" could refer to the victims of the once-praying paedophile. It could also be a metaphor for the relationship between Sarah and Dan, as they play their adult, though slightly childish, games with one another, deceiving their married partners. The less obvious connection could be to the Sarah and Dan's own children, who helped bring them together by befriending each other at the park and the swimming pool.
  Unfortunately the final moments of the film, (which focus around a very unpleasant incident in a well established children's park) still pack a punch, but seem ridiculous and startlingly different to the rest of the film. What could have been a thought provoking, intelligent finishing point ends up as an ill judged attempt to shock and surprise rather than end satisfactorily. Winslet and Wilson are faultless. It's the aimless script that lets the film down, succeeding in enticing the viewer but not rewarding them. As a whole the film is a thing of flawed beauty, but commits cinematic crimes, such as under using Jennifer Connelly, that stop it being the sharp, dark film it could have been.
  
  

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Todd Field directs this ensemble drama based on the novel by Tom Perrotta. Kate Winslet stars as Sarah, an educated young suburban mother frustrated with her narrow existence, who forges a friendship with local husband and father Brad (Patrick Wilson). Both share a discontentment with life in their small commuter town, and a lack of connection with their spouses: Sarah's uncomfortable marriage to the successful Richard (Gregg Edelman) parallels Brad's frustration with his aspirational documentary maker wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), and it isn't long before their friendship develops into a more complex entanglement. Meanwhile, the community is shaken by the discovery that a convicted sex offender (Jackie Earle Haley) is living in its midst.

Todd Field directs this ensemble drama based on the novel by Tom Perrotta. Kate Winslet stars as Sarah, an educated young suburban mother frustrated with her narrow existence, who forges a friendship with local husband and father Brad (Patrick Wilson). Both share a discontentment with life in their small commuter town, and a lack of connection with their spouses: Sarah's uncomfortable marriage to the successful Richard (Gregg Edelman) parallels Brad's frustration with his aspirational documentary maker wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), and it isn't long before their friendship develops into a more complex entanglement. Meanwhile, the community is shaken by the discovery that a convicted sex offender (Jackie Earle Haley) is living in its midst.