Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7642 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-05-14
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 132 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Kate Winslet operates at a galaxy-class level in Little Children, Todd Field's gratifyingly grown-up look at unhappy suburbia. Winslet is magnificent, in an Oscar-nominated performance, as a stroller-pushing mother who becomes attracted to a passive househusband (Patrick Wilson). Their slow-burning infidelity (Field wisely allows time to pass in this unhurried film) is contrasted with a more sensational subplot, about a convicted pedophile (Jackie Earle Haley, also Oscar nominated) returning to the neighborhood to live with his mother (Phyllis Somerville). Field, who brought his civilized approach to In the Bedroom, uses a deliberately literary style here, including a device with a narrator who sounds as though he's sitting at our side as he reads from Tom Perotta's novel. (The narrator is a superb touch--his cultivated voice distances us from the sloppy passions of the characters.) The film's biggest miscalculation is a self-appointed neighborhood vigilante (Noah Emmerich) determined to make life miserable for the paedophile. But Wilson is appropriately nebulous, Jennifer Connelly solid as his wife, and Haley (child star of the Bad News Bears movies), as the creepy, childlike molester, found himself rediscovered after a long career layoff. There's decent acting here, but Winslet is in a zone of her own, with so much emotional honesty and subtlety of expression that she transforms a good movie into a must-see. --Robert Horton

Synopsis
Actor-turned-director Todd Field follows up his Oscar-nominated drama, IN THE BEDROOM, with this ambitious adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s celebrated novel. Set in the imploding minefields of modern suburbia, LITTLE CHILDREN follows several inhabitants of a small American town as they fumble their way through adulthood. Numb-to-life housewife and mother Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) finds an outlet for her yearning in gorgeous househusband Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson), who is crippled with insecurity over the fact that his perfect wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), is the family breadwinner. When Sarah and Brad meet at the local playground one afternoon, a passionate affair is sparked. In a further attempt to reclaim his youthful fire, Brad joins a night football league with Larry Hedges (Noah Emmerich), a former cop who has begun to harass a convicted sex offender, Ronnie J. McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley). These troubled lives eventually collide, causing each individual to take full responsibility for their not-so-responsible actions. Adapted for the screen by Field and Perrotta and artfully photographed by Antonio Calvache, LITTLE CHILDREN is a bitingly funny, and nakedly honest, critique of middle class dysfunction. Though the cast is universally superb, it is former child actor Haley (THE BAD NEWS BEARS, BREAKING AWAY) who steals the show. After only two features, Field proves that he is a truly gifted storyteller.

Customer Reviews

Thought-provoking
This is a movie which I would recommend to anyone. despite its flaws, adequately enumerated by other reviewers here, the message(s) of the movie are unusual and the whole so well acted, particularly by Ms Winslet, that this is really a must-see. It is very unusual to show the life of a paedophile in such detail and the point here, in relation to all the main characters, is that it is appropriate to have empathy, sympathy even, for anyone - i.e. there's something worthwhile in all. Also, regarding the title, it struck me afterwards that the writer was postulating that none of us is really mature - each of the key characters take decisions/actions at some point here that are not those of so-called mature sensible grown-ups, but which are plausible nonetheless. A difficult to categorise movie because of the various plots and the occasional disturbing scenes (the paedophile on his date was particularly tragic), but one that is ultimately a rewarding and enjoyable watch, despite the slow pace.

Aims high, falls short
This isn't a bad film at all - in fact it has moments of genius. But ultimately Little Children yearns to be something it isn't. The source novel by Tom Perrotta is great in a breezy, colloquial way, with occasional moments of real insight that strike home all the harder for being less expected. Todd Field's cinematic take on it, however, has pretensions all of its own. Once in a while I'll watch a film that could really use a voice-over (The Handmaid's Tale for instance) because there's simply no other way of getting across the true beauty or the impact of the original novel. But in the case of Little Children the booming narrator is basically just an affectation. Something to give it an artier edge, maybe, a quirkiness or a gravitas that Field thought the film might otherwise be lacking? Gimmicks like these are a popular technique when the story alone isn't quite cohesive enough. Whereas the novel segues smoothly from inside the mind of one character to another this is less well achieved on screen, and it does seem bitty occasionally. Not to mention long-winded. The film really plods sometimes, whereas the novel moves at a cracking pace for the most part. And Todd Field is the DH Lawrence of the film world - a man without a humorous bone in his body. Little Children has 'take me seriously' emblazoned across it in neon sky-high letters. Yawn.

As for the cast, Patrick Wilson is kind of good as the bewildered-looking former jock led astray by boredom and testosterone. Kate Winslet is the one everyone raves about, but there's something annoyingly mannered about her performance, including that smooth American drawl perfected to within an inch of its life. She definitely looks less ravishing than usual, but physically she and Wilson aren't quite as mismatched as they're meant to be. Jennifer Connelly's perfectly fine as documentary-maker Kathy, but she must have been twiddling her thumbs a lot on set. Her wafer-thin role mostly involves demonstrating how much longer her legs are than Kate Winslet's.

The film comes alive in its less comfortable moments, nothing to do with the starrier cast members at all. Another plot follows convicted paedophile Ronnie McGorvey, released into an increasingly hostile community and hounded by the slightly-unhinged Larry, himself a defrocked cop. A scene at the town pool is so skillfully handled that your major feeling for McGorvey is sympathy, while a shocking episode involving a blind date turns everything on its head again. It's a complex portrayal, and brilliantly acted, although Field suddenly goes for the jugular with a melodramatic ending (not in the book) that smacks of shock tactics. The fate of the other characters gets sewn up in an equally unrealistic way. Hence the three stars, when it should really have been four.

Terrific Film!!!
I saw this film because I'd heard that Kate Winslet's performance was worth an admission ticket on its own, the film gave me so much more, its moving, disturbing and funny all at once with a great supporting actor aswell.

Little Children centers on a group of young marrieds, whose lives intersect on the playgrounds, town pools and streets of their small community in surprising and potentially dangerous ways. Also an ex-paedophile has just moved in on the street.

The main storyline in Little Children that is my favourite is the ex-paedophile story, with his struggle to deal with all the hat surrounding him whilst his mother trys to stick up for him, Jackie Earle Haley is superb as the confused Ronny who will do anything for his mother. This storyline is fantastic and I feel it isnt used enough as Winslet & Wilson's story dominates the screen. Which even though Winslet exceeds in, performing her heart out, Wilson lacks the energy factor and seemsovershadowed by his cast members.

Little Children has extreme moments of powerfulness yet scenes of pointlessness, however I wish Winslet the best of luck at the oscars and maybe Little Children might earn a couple of other nods too.