Little Children

Let me start out by saying I think I must have been uncommonly crabby when I saw this movie. It has received a steady stream of rave reviews and I realize I am out of step with the artistic community, however:

How many movies must we sit through that celebrate men who are controlled by their nether regions? Talk about arrested development!

Kate Winslet ("Sense and Sensibility" and "Titanic") is sympathetic as the wife of a fellow who advances into more and more outrageous masturbatory episodes. She inadvertently catches him in the act up in his office, and is fairly disgusted by the sight. He is angry with her, mostly because he didn't hear her knock and she interrupted him. I couldn't detect any embarrassment on his part...

A stay-at-home father takes his little boy to the same park as Winslet, and on a bet from other pram-pushing mothers, she introduces herself to him, whereupon one thing leads to another...

A child molester, played by Jackie Earle Hailey ("Breaking Away" and "Bad News Bears") has recently been released from prison and is living with his mother in the neighborhood. As required by law, notices have been posted in the vicinity, warning everyone of his presence. A cop who was retired early because of a shooting incident, played by Noah Emmerich ("Beautiful Girls" and "The Truman Show"), goes absolutely ballistic to think a molester is living among them.

Very quickly, you KNOW things are not going to turn out very well. The things I found most shocking were the man-child tendencies of the leads...which were presented as acceptable and normal, for the most part.

If you rent it, at least you will be able to hear (or read) the dialogue. That was another frustration for me. As I said, I must have been crabby that day.

...not heartwarming...