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Little Children

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Little Children (2006)

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Reviews Counted:152

Fresh:121

Rotten:31

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: Little Children takes a penetrating look at suburbia and its flawed individuals with an unflinching yet humane eye.

Runtime: 2 hrs 17 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $5,307,219

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... 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. This film was included in the 44th New York Film Festival organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. [More]

Starring: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Gregg Edelman, Sadie Goldstein

Starring: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Gregg Edelman, Sadie Goldstein, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley, Jane Adams, Phyllis Somerville, Sarah Buxton

Director: Todd Field

Director: Todd Field
Producer: Albert Berger
Composer: Thomas Newman
Studio: New Line Cinema

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Reviews for Little Children

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
02/09/07
Sydney Morning Herald
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Full Review Source: In Film Australia | comment Comment
02/14/07
In Film Australia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The complexity of the relationships is meticulously portrayed, although at times overly earnest. Nonetheless, it's a powerful piece of cinema and one that reverberates and impacts by its themes.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
02/01/07
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
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N/R

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Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
01/06/07
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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N/R

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Full Review Source: NPR.org | comment Comment
10/18/08
Bob Mondello
Bob Mondello
NPR.org
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Entertainment Insiders | comment Comment
10/08/06
Jonathan W. Hickman
Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders

I'm sorry, an interesting premise, a keen eye and a veneer of emotional seriousness are not enough.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
09/29/06
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com

Little Children ultimately seems to display the conformity to convention that so alarms its central characters.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
10/28/06
Ben Walters
Ben Walters
Time Out

Bereft of a protagonist, the movie breaks down under the weight of absurd voice-over narration and an exploitative ending that is as indefensibly wrongheaded as it is cheap.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/24/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

A slow-paced bourgeois melodrama.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/21/06
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

'Little Children' sometimes trivializes what deserves serious treatment.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/26/06
Donald J. Levit
Donald J. Levit
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

It is only once the end credits have begun to roll that you step back, process what you have seen, and leave dissatisfied.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
10/18/06
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

The unrestrained (and rather excellent) trailer for Todd Field's Little Children would have us believe that the Whore of Babylon (possibly Kate Winslet) is coming for us on NJ Transit, with Pandora's Box in hand.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
10/31/06
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

Suburbia continues to serve as the dartboard of choice for filmmakers bent on demonstrating their urbane superiority to the dull denizens of tract housing.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
09/26/06
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
Village Voice

Auteur Todd Field and co-writer Tom Perrotta have created a group of some of the most unsympathetic characters to ever blight movie screen.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
10/06/06
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

Its antiseptic textures merely whimper 'Oscar clip'

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/28/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Sexual deviates become heroes. This film is excrement on celluloid.

Full Review Source: Outtakes With Fiore | comment 3 Comments
11/27/06
Fiore Mastracci
Fiore Mastracci
Outtakes With Fiore

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
02/10/07
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

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.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/04/07
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

I didn't like any of these characters, but I kept pulling for them anyway -- right up to the shock-o-riffic ending, when I felt I'd been sucker-punched.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/05/07
Jim Emerson
Jim Emerson
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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Latest News for Little Children

July 23, 2007: Jackie Earle Haley, More Confirmed for Watchmen Cast
Expect to see a whole lot of "Watchmen" updates over the next several months. And here's one: Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, and Malin Akerman have signed deals to appear in... More...

June 18, 2007: Patrick Wilson (Pretty Much) Confirmed for "Watchmen"
He did great work in both "Hard Candy" and "Little Children," so now it might be time for Patrick Wilson's shot at the comic book material. More...

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Known as a big predictor of what'll go down Oscar night, the Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony took place last Sunday to a rapturous Hollywood crowd without a hitch (or... More...

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