'Little Children' Film Rachets Up Tension

By Bob Mondello

Published October 6, 2006 at 2:00 PM MDT

Little Children tracks an affair between a dissatisfied housewife and "the prom king," a stay-at-home dad who avoids studying for the Bar as he visits the playground with his son.

Things come to a head when a man sent to jail for exposing himself to children is released and moves into the community.

The story is Todd Field's adaptation of the novel by Tom Perrotta, who co-wrote the screenplay. The movie stars Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connolly.

Bob Mondello

Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.

See stories by Bob Mondello