MOVIE NIGHT


FLIPPED (2010)

I was looking around for a fun, light DVD to watch with my husband, and came across this little Rob Reiner gem called Flipped. Set in the late 50s/early 60s USA, it's about a young girl, Juli, who "flips" the first time she meets the new boy, Bryce, moving in next door. She innocently assumes he'll come to feel the same way about her as she begins her five-year quest to make him her guy. Reiner uses the ingenious tactic of showing the situation from her point of view, and then from his. Every time she thinks she reads Bryce's meaning, through a look or a smile, it turns out, when we see it from his point of view, he means something completely different.

Being a girl, I naturally couldn't help siding with Juli, played by Madeline Carroll. Every time she thinks she reads Bryce's meaning, through a look or a smile, it turns out, when we see it from his point of view, he means something completely different. My husband, on the other hand, totally understood how Bryce, played by Callan McAuliffe, feels. A boy at that age just doesn't know how to deal with girls, much less smart, sensitive ones. But I couldn't help feeling frustrated with Juli. I kept thinking, why does such a bright, on-the-ball girl, interested in social issues, science and the world around her, want to be with such a dummy? The answer is simple: because he's cute. Yes, I remember that age. Looks are all that really matter. And, after all, it's not that Bryce is stupid, it's just that he's a 13-year-old boy, whose brain is maturing much more slowly than that of his female counterparts.
Based on the novel of the same name, by Wendelin Van Draanen, the film is truly charming. There is quite a surprising, top-notch cast on board too - I say surprising because, though most actors crave working with Rob Reiner, this is a small film, and the two adolescent leads are virtually unknowns. Their parents and other family members, however, are played by the likes of Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards, John Mahoney, Penelope Ann Miller and Aiden Quinn, all of whom turn in riveting performances. Though Flipped is not a movie that will necessarily rock your world, it will stay with you, and for all the right reasons.


Movie reviewed by Georgina Young-Ellis

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