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'Little Children' takes itself far too seriously
If ever there was a movie that could be accused of taking itself too seriously, it's "Little Children."
Filmmaker Todd Field seems to have completely missed the point of his source material, Tom Perrotta's tale of suburban angst, longing and temptation, which is at least slightly a parody. Field's adaptation is dour to the point of being completely humorless.
The movie nearly wastes some terrific performances, especially Kate Winslet's. She stars as Sarah, an unhappily married housewife who begins a tentative friendship with Brad (Patrick Wilson). A former high school football star, Brad has pretty much been drifting along ever since, which doesn't thrill his documentary-filmmaker wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly). Sarah, on the other hand, is thrilled just to be with the former golden boy, and eventually the two begin having an affair while they are watching their children.
Like Perrotta's novel, screenwriter/director Field's drama paints character morality with gray shadings, as with an apparently unrepentant child-molester, played by Jackie Earle Haley; it's never clear whether we're supposed to feel sympathy for him.
The distasteful subplot dealing with that character's struggles, and the rather cold tone of most of the movie, are off-putting, which is why it's fortunate that Field cast Winslet as his lead character. While she may not be the mousy, unglamorous woman that Perrotta created, she's more real and human than any of the others here (particularly Connelly's underwritten Kathy, who unfairly comes across as unsympathetic).
"Little Children" is rated R for strong sexual language (including profanity, vulgar slang and frank sex talk), simulated sex and other sexual contact, female and partial male nudity, athletics-based violence and an act of self-mutilation, brief gore and brief drug references. Running time: 130 minutes.
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