Little Children is obstensibly about an affair between two married people, but it is the ancillary story of the paroled pedophile that steals the movie. Jackie Earl Haley ("Kelly" from the Bad News Bears and "Mooch" from Breaking Away) plays this character with such realism and sadness that at times you are both rooting for him and terrifyed of what he will do next at the same time. The guy from Hard Candy (the one who tried to rape Juno) plays the male of the affair, while the chick who shows her tits in Titanic plays the female lead. They meet at the community swimming pool where their kids are playing together, and soon the two of them begin playing together as well. Truman's best friend from "The Truman Show" plays a retired cop who makes it his personal mission to make the neighborhood aware that there's a child molestor in their midst. I see this movie as a cross between "American Beauty" and a good version of "Gone Baby Gone", with a little bit of "Wondershozen" thrown in. Underlying all the different story arcs, is the central theme of what adults do to children to fullfill their own selfish needs. At times its comical and at others its downright heartbreaking. A very good movie that will have you thinking afterwards.

When I first saw this movie it creeped me out big time.

The central theme is, as you said it, an affair between two people but that wasn't where the story was for me. I didn't find their whole relationship believable at all. You don't meet a guy in a park for the first time and kiss him in front your kid and his kid. And while your affair is going on you and your spouses don't all meet up and have dinner together either. I also didn't see any so called "chemistry" between them. So I totally found that storyline of the movie laughable. In fact, they could have totally done away with those characters being the lead story ... and stuck to the story of the pedophile and had the whole movie based around that. When he was on the screen, you just couldn't stop watching. The movie should have been from his point of view with the other characters stories interwoven. It would have made for a much better film for me.