A girl puts her ability to keep a confidence to work, though she soon learns it's a tougher job than she imagined in this comedy drama for young people. Emily (Evan Rachel Wood) is a 14-year-old girl who loves music and is studying the violin. She has a real gift as a violinist, and has passed up the opportunity to go to summer camp with her friends to study with her tutor, Pauline (Vivica A. Fox), who believes Emily has a chance of landing a spot in the community symphony orchestra. Emily also
has an unusual business on the side -- for 50 cents, she'll hear and keep other kids' secrets, and offer advice on how to keep incriminating facts away from parents, teachers, or other authority figures. However, she also has a secret of her own -- a new family has moved into the neighborhood, and while Philip (Michael Angarano), a year or two younger than Emily, quickly takes a liking to her, she immediately develops a crush on his older brother, David (David Gallagher). However, David has a habit of getting into trouble, and soon Emily is keeping some secrets she's prefer to get off her chest. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
The kids in this syrupy family picture are spunky tykes and the adults are dolts, but Wood is worth watching because she's so clearly ready to play nobody's girl but her own.
There are a lot of movies out there made for fourteen-year-old boys, a ton of movies made for six-year-old kids, this movie is made for ten-year-old girls and for what it is, I really like it.
I am rating this movie at three stars because it contains absolutely nothing to object to. That in itself may be objectionable, but you will have to decide for yourself.
These character live in an unblemished neighborhood, where everyone has bite-sized problems that can easily be resolved with a few kind words, a hug, and some tears.
At least it's a viable alternative to the usually predominate brainless super-charged kids fare that's thrown on the big screen. And for that, Treu's cinematic "little secret" is worth telling out loud.
Few parents [the kind likely to have made Little Secrets and to whom it seems primarily aimed] will find anything objectionable in this sanitized after-school special-esque of a film, lately that's progress.
To a large degree, Little Secrets succeeds in a valiant effort to portray a teens struggling with the inevitable pitfalls along the bumpy road to adulthood.
The movie's chipper charms, and its steadfast determination to present an alternative to overly merchandised multiplex fare (there's nary a pop song or product placement here), ultimately win out.
This movie is a groundbreaking drama. It is a landmark as one of my favourite childhood films, and I wish it was even longer than 1 hour and 45 minutes! This movie released when I was 8 years old, and I cried back then, now I just look back on it as an amazing film.
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