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Rob Reiner's "Flipped," based on the novel by Wendelin
Van Draanen, is an all-around likeable film, a sweet, nostalgic,
and reliable coming of age story about first loves and family
dramas. It could even be described as a romantic comedy,
even if the leads are really too young to know anything
about romance. Do you remember how, as kids, you would talk
about how you liked someone, and not just liked them, but
REALLY liked them, you know, as more than a friend? That's
the kind of innocence this movie brings to mind, which I
guess is fitting since it mostly takes place in the early
1960s. The plot is perhaps a bit conventional, but it's
also undeniably charming, and it features two strong leads
who, although young, competently navigate their way through
the screenplay, even when it falls victim to sentimental
contrivances. ***
The story is about a boy named Bryce Loski and a girl
named Julianna Baker, who first met in 1957 when they were
only seven years old. Julianna, or Juli (Morgan Lily), bursting
with energy and enthusiasm, immediately fell for Bryce (Ryan
Ketzner) - or, at the very least, developed what can only
be described as a puppy-love crush. Bryce, being only seven,
had absolutely no interest in girls, and found her affections
frightening. He spent every waking moment trying to avoid
her, made impossible by the fact that they live across the
street from each other and attended the same school.***
Flash forward six years to the story proper. A now
thirteen-year-old Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) has successfully
kept Juli (Madeline Carroll) at a distance, although he
keeps bumping into her, and she persists in being outgoing
and affectionate. Then things start to change. Juli, who
enjoyed climbing a towering sycamore tree and admiring the
view, is crushed when developers cut it down, and she feels
betrayed when Bryce fails to offer her support. She had
been giving Bryce's family boxes of eggs from her own backyard
hens, only to discover that Bryce had been throwing them
away. Her backyard, he reasons, is filthy and could be breeding
salmonella. She angrily tells him that she could have sold
those eggs to other neighbors, who have always been willing
to pay her for them. Maybe Bryce isn't who she thought he
was. Maybe she should just forget about him altogether.
The thing is, Bryce is starting to tolerate her. Why, he
might even actually LIKE her. He's flipped!***
She finds solace in Bryce's grandfather, Chet (John
Mahoney), who now lives with Bryce and his family. He likes
Juli because of her "iron backbone," which reminds him of
his recently deceased wife. She, in turn, likes him, probably
because he's the only Loski that doesn't look down on her
family. In this middle-American, middle class neighborhood,
the Bakers are easy targets; her father, a painter (Aidan
Quinn), gives every cent he earns to the hospital caring
for his mentally retarded brother, David (Kevin Weisman),
meaning his wife (Penelope Ann Miller) has to find temporary
work just to make ends meet. Bryce's father, Steven (Anthony
Edwards), is especially judgmental, although it's for reasons
left a little obscure, save for a vague and passing reference
to an unfulfilled life.***
The story is structured as a He-Said, She-Said, Bryce
narrating scenes from his point of view before the same
scenes are replayed and narrated from Juli's point of view.
Not surprisingly, they think along very different lines.
Bryce's mind is relentlessly one-tracked, always stuck on
how he should avoid Juli, how he should approach Juli, or
how he should or apologize to Juli. The one line that's
repeated like a mantra is, "I couldn't stop thinking about
Juli." Perhaps he wouldn't be on this psychological treadmill
if he actually bothered to consider her feelings. Compare
this with Juli, who's far more introspective. She tries
to see people for who they really are and not for how they
present themselves. Now that she's a teenager, Bryce is
more of an attractive curiosity, a mystery that she wants
to solve. But can he be figured out? Or is there truly nothing
behind those eyes she loves to look into?***
While lacking the drama and complexity of Reiner's
earlier coming of age period film, "Stand by Me," "Flipped"
is still a warm, caring, resonant film, taking the conventions
of today's romantic comedies and successfully reworking
them for a more adolescent audience. The cast is pleasant,
especially the young leads. McAuliffe in particular is surprising,
at age fifteen already in command of a flawless American
accent (he's Australian).
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