Movie · 2006 · Drama, Romance · 2h 17m · R · English
Curator score: 6.7/10 (184.2K ratings)
Overview
The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.7/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.71/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Metacritic: 75
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Todd Field
Production
New Line Cinema, Standard Film Company, Bona Fide Productions
Cast
Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Gregg Edelman, Sadie Goldstein, Ty Simpkins, Noah Emmerich, Jackie Earle Haley, Phyllis Somerville, Helen Carey, Catherine Wolf, Mary B. McCann, Trini Alvarado, Marsha Dietlein, Jane Adams, Raymond J. Barry, Sarah Buxton, Thomas Greaney, Anna Audia, Celestial Hakim
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, uneasy suburban drama that blends desire, shame, and social satire with unusually precise writing and strong performances. It’s emotionally messy on purpose, but that’s the point: the film is less interested in romance than in the self-deceptions people build around loneliness and temptation.
Best for
viewers who like adult character studies
fans of bleak suburban satire
people drawn to morally complicated relationships
audiences who appreciate strong ensemble acting
those interested in social discomfort and repression
Skip if
you want a warm or uplifting romance
you dislike morally ambiguous characters
you prefer fast-paced plotting
you’re sensitive to sexual misconduct themes
you want a clean emotional payoff
Overview
Todd Field turns suburbia into a pressure cooker, where boredom, shame, and longing keep leaking into every conversation. The film is observant rather than sensational, finding humor and dread in the same spaces: playgrounds, pools, cul-de-sacs, and the private fantasies people use to survive their lives.
Worth noting
What makes it work is the precision of the writing and the performances, especially in the way the film refuses to flatten anyone into a simple type. Even when the characters make terrible choices, the movie stays interested in their loneliness, vanity, and self-justifications.
Bottom line
It’s not an easy watch, and it doesn’t aim for catharsis. But if you like adult dramas that dissect social performance, repression, and the rot beneath domestic normalcy, this is one of the sharper examples of the form.
Top Letterboxd reviews
stevie (4★) · 1529 likes
I WANT TO RIDE PATRICK WILSON LIKE A BIKE
Master Splinter (4★) · 1091 likes
Kate Winslet's not your type? Dude.. wtf
#1 gizmo fan (4.5★) · 834 likes
This movie is not happy
georgina (4★) · 790 likes
Kate Winslet told her daughter to piss in the swimming pool so she could go seduce Patrick Wilson.... yea
danica (4.5★) · 600 likes
i always see people praising patrick wilson's ass so i wanted to see what the fuss was about and i was not disappointed (also the movie was great too)