Little Children
Grade: A-

In the hierarchy of movies about suburban malaise, this artful adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s novel is a notch above American Beauty and a notch below The Ice Storm. Using an unsentimental, anthropological tone, director Todd Field peels back the pretty façade of an upper-middle class New England neighborhood to reveal the sex offenders, adulterers and porn addicts that slither beneath the surface. Kate Winslet plays a miserable, overeducated housewife to the hilt, though it’s not one of her best performances. Patrick Wilson (Angels in America) and Jennifer Connelly lend solid support.