Little Children

I just saw this movie, which I felt was a pretty faithful adaptation of the book by Tom Perotta, which I read when it first came out. Sarah is a little bored as a stay-at-home mom and a little appalled at the other playground mothers and their air of perfection. When Todd, who the other mothers dub "The Prom King" shows up at the playground, Sarah boldly goes up to him and shocks even herself as she kisses him. Todd is the primary caregiver for his son. His wife thinks he is spending his evenings at the library studying for the bar exam, but he spends all his time watching teenage skateboarders, joining a touch football league, or passing out fliers about the child molester who has moved in to the neighborhood with an acquaintance who has become obsessed with the molester. Sarah and Todd start spending their afternoons at the pool with their children and begin an affair. Meanwhile, the child molester and his mother try to adjust to the turmoil. Like Election, also by Tom Perotta and turned into a great movie, there is a dark humor to this book as well as some great insights into the nature of suburbia and marriage.