Also starring are Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley, Noah Emmerich, Gregg Edelman, Phyllis Somerville, and Will Lyman.Despite this, it won numerous critics' group prizes and received Oscar nominations for Best Actress for Winslet, Best Supporting Actor for Haley, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Field and Perrotta.Brad and Sarah become friendly and, on a dare to shock gossipy housewives, kiss in the park, but resolve not to act on their mutual attraction.Sara and Brad, enjoying each other's company, start regularly meeting at the public pool under the guise of a play date for their kids.One day, dozens of parents panic when they see recently paroled sex offender Ronnie J. McGorvey snorkeling in the water with the children, as there are posters of him plastered all over town.When Brad skips taking the bar exam again, his wife Kathy grows suspicious and tells him to invite Sarah, Richard, and Lucy over for dinner.The website's critical consensus states, "Little Children takes a penetrating look at suburbia and its flawed individuals with an unflinching yet humane eye.”[7] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews.”[8] A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: Mr. Field proves to be among the most literary of American filmmakers.Firmly rooted in the present and in our current frame of mind—a time and frame of mind that few artists have shown interest in really exploring—the movie is one of the few films I can think of that examines the baffling combination of smugness, self-abnegation, ceremonial deference and status anxiety that characterizes middle-class Gen X parenting, and find sheer, white-knuckled terror at its core.