Little Children - Movie Review

Sarah is a suburban outsider who, unlike the other playground moms, isn't afraid to approach the dreamy but long-absent father whom smitten housewives have taken to calling the "Prom King." Long days at the local community pool with their respective children soon find Sarah becoming acquainted with local husband and father Brad - who seems to share in her seething discontentment with life in their quaint commuter town. An English literature major who never envisioned a fate as a soccer mom, Sarah has a growing dissatisfaction with her successful husband that parallels Brad's increasing frustration with his inability to pass the bar and connect with his wife, Kathy, a successful documentary filmmaker. It's not long before the dejected pair is meeting for a series of illicit afternoon trysts as their unsuspecting spouses work and their children lie quietly napping. Meanwhile, after the community is riled by the return of a convicted sex offender who leaves the concerned parents scrambling to protect their young ones, an attempt made by Sarah and Brad to legitimize their clandestine relationship by dining together with their respective spouses begins to awaken Kathy's suspicions about the fidelity of her husband.

This was definitely a film that's hard to categorize. There were so many different plots and undertones such as drama, comedy, suspense, romance and even some horror thrown in. In the beginning, it was difficult to determine exactly what was going on and what the connection between everyone was. As the film progressed, most of those relationships were revealed and a beautiful spiderweb had been created. The journey to reach the end was filled with feel-good romance, puzzling mysteries and sickening actions. It was a very strange movie, but in a good way. All the actors seemed to be perfect for their parts and the chemistry between them worked well. The film was original and entertaining enough that I'd recommend watching it, but be prepared for some pretty random scenes. Once you start to watch it, expect to be drawn in and make sure you have enough time (2 hrs. 15 min.) to finish it since you won't want to walk away in the middle.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson

The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.