Well-acted and meticulously crafted, Little Children can feel less like a full-blooded representation of life than a disquieting literary exercise.
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01/05/07
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Little Children (2006)
89
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:38
Fresh:34
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: Little Children takes a penetrating look at suburbia and its flawed individuals with an unflinching yet humane eye.
Theatrical Release:Oct 17, 2006 Limited
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... [More]
Starring: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Gregg Edelman, Sadie Goldstein
Director: Todd Field
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Reviews for Little Children
Top CriticI 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.
01/05/07
Top CriticAs in Field's first film, the characters are drawn with such compassion their follies become our own and their desires seem as vast as the night sky.
01/05/07
Top CriticLittle Children includes all the clichéd scenarios of a midday TV sudser, but they're ratcheted up several seedy degrees.
01/04/07
Top CriticA beautifully observed, profoundly moving tale of suburban malaise.
01/04/07
Top CriticSeldom these days does one encounter such an intricate narrative so persuasively performed by the entire cast, most notably by Ms. Winslet and Mr. Wilson as the adulterous lovers.
10/25/06
Top CriticField and Perrotta find the humour in human foibles, but it is the drama of humdrum lives that draws their fascination and sympathy. And in Winslet and Wilson, they have found a most fascinating pair.
10/20/06
Top CriticFilled with moments of painful revelation, real comedy and emotional insight.
10/20/06
Top CriticTo these disappointed eyes, Little Children seems a frustrating mess.
10/20/06
Top CriticA small wonder of a movie that puts its characters in playground swings and then gives them a push. Watch them fly this way and that, dangling between peril and ecstasy. And see if you don't recognize yourself.
10/20/06
Top CriticA film you watch with mounting dread, yet cannot tear yourself away from: It's paced like a thriller with the timing of a smart comic.
10/20/06
Top CriticWhat Little Children understands so well, and so poignantly, is a kind of parental existentialism that hits 30- somethings with kids: How does having children make you such a less interesting adult?
10/20/06
Top CriticIt is a shrewd, darkly humorous look at supposed civility, at the ways in which we allow ourselves to settle and a rare depiction of motherhood as a less-than-awesome experience.
10/20/06
Top CriticDirector and co-writer Todd Field establishes some very nontraditional premises, both stylistic and emotional, that give his film -- based on a novel by Tom Perrotta, who collaborated on the screenplay -- a creepy, hypnotic edge.
10/19/06
Top CriticTonal inconsistencies don't blunt the keenness of its satire, so sharp that I walked out with emotional razor burn.
10/19/06
Top CriticA hugely absorbing social drama that is, by turns, excruciating, sad and sardonic.
10/19/06
Top CriticUnnervingly good, Little Children is one of the rare American films about adultery that feels right -- dangerous, hushed, immediate -- even when the sex takes a back seat to other longings.
10/19/06
Top CriticComplicated, involving and just plain smart, Children is the kind of movie that worms its way back into your head days after you've seen it.
10/19/06
Top CriticThis is a pitch-perfect slice of dark suburban life.
10/17/06
Top CriticField is a rare American director who appreciates the virtues of breathing room: he allows scenes to develop in their own sweet time, trusting that we will find the undercurrents of human behavior as fascinating as he does.
10/14/06
Top CriticLatest News for Little Children
July 23, 2007:
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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...
January 30, 2007:
SAG Award Winners Revealed, Oscar Predicting Hits Full Steam
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...
January 23, 2007:
Oscar Nominations Announced: "Little Miss Sunshine," "Dreamgirls," "Borat" Deemed Worthy
The expected heavy hitters made the grade -- Scorsese, Whitaker, "Dreamgirls" -- but there were a handful of surprises...let's just say, if you thought you'd never... More...
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