Flipped

Flipped is a harmless, competently made movie, but while watching brings up a host of questions to the cynical cinephile. For one thing, it's another example of the remarkable decline of Rob Reiner, who was once on the A-list of film directors, but is now making largely insignificant, barely-released films like this one. Secondly, a viewer wonders, just who is the primary audience for this film?

Based on a novel for young adults, Flipped would seem to be a movie for children. But children from what era? I have a hard time believing that children of 2010, the one who text nonstop and have casual oral sex, would identify with the kids in this film, which is based in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I suspect that Flipped is really for adults who were kids back then, as the whole enterprise is wrapped in a gauzy nostalgia, invoking an era when kids climbed trees, families ate dinner together and then all watched shows like Bonanza, and when a nonwhite face was an anomaly.

Flipped is about a boy and a girl who have a long, halting romance. When Bryce (Callan McAuliffe), moves in to his family's new house, he's immediately targeted by the little girl across the street, Juli (Madeline Carroll). She pursues him unrelentingly, much to his embarrassment. By the time they're young teens Juli, who is something of a dreamer like her father (Aidan Quinn), still has feelings for Bryce, but wonders whether he's worth it.

This film would be playing at the multiplex in Robert McKee's hell, because it is dominated by voice-over narration, both by Bryce and Juli. We usually get both sides of the story for a particular plot point, which means several scenes are played twice, from a slightly different point of view. The movie is only about ninety minutes long, but has about half of that time in action. There's nothing especially profound about the narration, it's not even fake-profound, like the narration on the TV show The Wonder Years.

The movie attempts to replicate its time period, but aside from a few songs and the clothing, it doesn't really seem authentic. The cinematography is bathed in nostalgic golden hues, and the town it takes place in is called Mayfield, which was the hometown of Beaver Cleaver. This certainly can't be a coincidence.

The leads are appealing young actors, and also in the cast are recognizable names like Anthony Andrews, as Bryce's father, who is a first-class asshole, with Rebecca DeMornay wasted as his mom. John Mahoney does some nice work as his wise grandfather, without being too twinkly. Penelope Ann Miller plays Juli's mother.

The script, by Reiner and Andrew Scheinman, emphasizes the gooey sweetness of the kids' teen romance, but a harder edge that lurks beneath the surface might have been more interesting--Andrews' character is a simmering example of the angry white man of the Eisenhower era, and a subplot involving Quinn's mentally handicapped brother emerges abruptly and just as quickly disappears. Flipped, while a paean to a time gone by, could have been more interesting.