Flipped

Movie Information

The Story: The story of the complicated relationship between a young boy and girl in early '60s middle America. The Lowdown: A corny, lazy bit of filmmaking in every conceivable way, resulting in a movie that's just overwhelmingly dull.
Score:

Genre: Tween Romance
Director: Rob Reiner (The Bucket List)
Starring: Madeline Carroll, Callan McAuliffe, Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards, John Mahoney
Rated: PG

You’re going to see the words “wholesome” and “heart-warming” attached to Rob Reiner’s Flipped, and that should be enough to tell you whether or not this movie is for you. Something called the Heartland Film Festival has anointed Flipped with the presumably coveted title of “Truly Moving Picture.” I was certainly moved, as I shifted in my seat in an attempt to fight off the movie’s butt-numbing effects.

Don’t be mistaken, however. I don’t dislike this film because of its whitewashed, feel-good view of the world. This alone isn’t enough to make a movie bad—though the film’s tooth-achingly saccharine nature makes it horribly dull. What makes Flipped awful is the blatant laziness on display.

Based on the preteen novel by Wendelin Van Draanen, Reiner and co-writer Andrew Scheinman (who penned the Reiner flop North (1994)) have written an adaptation with zero tact or imagination. Instead of adapting, they’ve transcribed, since we get not one, but two narrators describing events throughout the film. And when I say there’s narration, I don’t mean here and there to fill in the story. No, what we get is incessant chatting throughout the entire movie, to the point that there’s more narration than dialogue. It’s one part apathetic screenwriting, one part distrust of the audience, with a bit of The Wonder Years thrown in.

The film is a nostalgic view of the early ‘60s, revolving around junior-high boy Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) and his varied romantic entanglements with the girl across the street, Juli (Madeline Carroll, The Spy Next Door). It’s basic coming-of-age stuff that’s unfortunately none too interesting (there’s a 15-minute section about nothing but eggs)—told from the back-and-forth perspectives of both kids and slathered in treacly mass-market prose.

For the most part, the movie is trite in its depiction of the good ol’ days, with a nostalgic look that feels phony and contrived and occasionally tailspins into melodrama. The subplot of Bryce’s father (Anthony Edwards)—a bitter, closed-minded man who spirals downward into rage and anger—goes nowhere. After a narrated side note, he’s completely dismissed from the film. This is just bad storytelling, but it’s not as bad as the clichéd and offensive “full retard” minstrel-show performance by Kevin Weisman (Clerks II), who way overplays his mentally challenged character.

The ‘80s heyday of Reiner is long gone, but even this movie is a step down from the overbearing schmaltz of his last film, The Bucket List (2007). The movie has been floundering in limited release for more than a month and only now has been granted a semi-wide release; this would be career-killing stuff for someone with less of a name than the once and former Meathead. On paper, Flipped is harmless family entertainment. In practice, however, it’s so simplistic and unimaginative that it’s almost offensive. Rated PG for language and some thematic material.

SHARE

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

4 thoughts on “Flipped

  1. Me

    A 1/2 star movie is a pick of the week? Is that a “you got to see how awful this thing is” pick?

  2. Ken Hanke

    Sounds like a future contender for a spot on the THURSDAY HORROR PICTURE SHOW!

    Uh…no.

  3. Ken Hanke

    A 1/2 star movie is a pick of the week? Is that a “you got to see how awful this thing is” pick?

    It’s not a pick at all. There is no pick this week — there’s a blank space where the pick would go. Granted, I think it would have been better to leave the phrase out altogether, but I don’t oversee that.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.