Several months ago I read and reviewed Little Children by Tom Perotta. The movie got a very limited release that somehow missed Boca, but earned Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley well-deserved Oscar Nominations. The latter was mostly remembered as Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears, so his surprising turn as Ronnie, the child molester and neighborhood pariah, was a compelling performance.
Kate Winslet, who is one of the most beautiful actresses around, somehow pulled off the character of Sarah, the intellectual, plain mom who just doesn't fit in with the pulled-together, judgmental toddler park moms. She is drawn to enigmatic "Prom King" Brad, the stay-at-home Dad whose gorgeous wife works making documentaries. Their affair is both trite and unique, physically passionate and emotionally charged.
This is one of the few times you will hear me say that the movie was as good as the book. The use of the documentary-ish narrator somehow works with the story and does not seem to be contrived or a short-cut around dramatic exposition.
One of my favorite scenes was when Sarah goes with her older friend to a book group meeting where Madame Bovary was discussed. Self-conscious about going, Sarah is further tested when she sees that another invitee is none other than Mary Ann, one of the perfect, self-righteous toddler park moms. Everyone knows a Mary Ann...life is black and white. Earlier in the movie she suggested to the other moms scheduling sex as a weekly date, emphasized the importance of keeping her child on a schedule and stomped away in a snit when Sarah and Todd impetuously kissed upon their first meeting (a meeting egged on by the moms who offered Sarah $10 to get the "Prom King's" phone number.) During the book discussion, she stridently asserts that Emma Bovary is nothing but a slut. Sarah who holds a masters in English Literature, reflecting on her own complicated relationship with Todd, talks about the complexities of Emma Bovary, her choices and her feminism. It is a powerful scene in Sarah's development.
Jackie Earle Haley's performance as Ronnie moves from creepy to sympathetic to disgusting to pitiful. The movie, like the book, manages to show the complexity of all the characters, most notably finding redeeming qualities in a convicted sex offender.
Little Children does not wrap the ending up in a feel-good resolution, but leaves you confused, uncertain and a little sad. A beautifully done adaptation of an excellent book!
QUESTION FOR READERS OR VIEWERS (I KNOW VICKY IS GOING TO KNOW THIS): I CAN'T REMEMBER FROM THE BOOK AND IT WASN'T CLEAR FROM THE MOVIE - When Sarah returned after leaving Lucy for the night with her friend (the older woman she walked with and from the book group, the woman left quickly and in kind of a snit. What happened?
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