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Little Children (2006)
Hamhanded Hollywood morality play
In the spirit of "Grand Canyon" and "American Beauty," this is an overwrought epic about sex panic in America. While it's good to have conversations about sexuality, monogamy and the treatment of people convicted of sex crimes, the writing in this script is so wooden that the result is nearly unbearable. There's actually a voice-over narration with a cheesy male voice that begs the question "Is this a satire?" I kept waiting for the irony to break through, but it doesn't. It becomes clear that this is Hollywood congratulating itself for taking on large social issues, albeit only the concerns of suburban rich white people.
The voice over is over the top. Kate Winslet will be looking off into the mist and there will be a voice over saying something like "Sarah thought about her life with her husband. She wasn't happy." Things that are so basic and emotional, the sort of things that should be adapted into dialogue or acting. Voice overs should only be used if the writing voice is extraordinary (it isn't) or there is some sort of satirical bent (there isn't).
The film takes on the tenor of a B-grade horror movie taking itself way too seriously. The final scenes, where Ronnie, the man arrested for exposing himself to a minor, completely reverts to childlike, faux-retarded behavior and smashes his mother's menagerie of glass figurines. Tennessee Williams this is not. When he castrates himself at the end, I actually groaned out loud. Naturally, since it's Hollywood, everything is restored to the status quo at the end. Everyone has an epiphany and sees the light and goes back to their unhappy marriages. I was dumbfounded! I kept thinking about all those people on Oscar night the voters and the people involved with this film and all the critics who gave this movie its reputation actually cooperating with this idea that THIS is the best Hollywood can do in terms of social commentary. "In the Bedroom" was a very different movie, but mostly because there were better actors and a basis of solid writing by Andre Dubus. This script and the book it was based on are the lowest common denominator. Shame on Hollywood for peddling such crap.
This is an update on 1950s sexual hysteria. It's not smart and it's not art.