Movie review: Flipped

by Alex Bentley

With a flawed structure and so-so overall storyline, the film is just more evidence that director Rob Reiner ain't what he used to be.

Warner Bros.

One of the downsides of being a movie lover is seeing the decline of your favorite actors/filmmakers. Except in a few rare cases, people in Hollywood tend to have relatively short periods of success. This week's example? Rob Reiner. While he's no one's idea of a great actor, from 1984 to 1995, he was as good a director as you could find. This is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally..., Misery, A Few Good Men, The American President – all fantastic movies, all directed by Reiner during that period.

But since that time, Reiner's golden touch has become more than a little tarnished. His efforts since 2000 – Alex & Emma, Rumor Has It..., and The Bucket List – have been particularly underwhelming. After a three-year hiatus, Reiner is back with Flipped, which also marks his first writing effort since This is Spinal Tap (longtime collaborator Andrew Scheinman co-wrote the film, which is based on a novel by children's author Wendelin Van Draanen).

Warner Bros.

Everyone knows the way to a boy's heart is to give him a dozen fresh eggs.

In a way, Flipped hearkens back to Stand By Me as it's a story of innocence lost in the '50s/'60s told through the eyes of children. But instead of a quest to see a dead body being the catalyst, it's something arguably worse: the trials and tribulations of love. Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) has been hounded by Juli (Madeline Carroll) ever since he and his family moved to town when he was seven. Through the years, Bryce has grudgingly tolerated Juli's eccentricities, but now that they're in 8th grade, budding hormones may cause him to see her in a different light. Juli, on the other hand, has loved Bryce almost from the moment they met. She's done everything in her power to win his affections, but he has yet to come around to her way of thinking. Now, the increased complexities of middle school life have opened her eyes to what Bryce might really be like, and she's not sure she likes what she sees.

The story is told in a he-said/she-said manner, with both Bryce and Juli telling us their version of events. This leads to more than a few misunderstandings, with each of them interpreting something one way when the truth may be something entirely different. This back-and-forth is hit-and-miss, mostly because of one big factor: the dueling voiceovers. Juli's part ends up being a lot more interesting than Bryce's part, mainly because Carroll is more polished than McAuliffe as an actor. Every time McAuliffe starts to speak during the voiceover, he comes off as too earnest and stilted. Carroll, however, speaks fluidly, the result of which is that Juli's story seems much more believable than Bryce's.

Warner Bros.

Grandpas are really good at cutting to the heart of the matter.

The relationship between Bryce and Juli progresses relatively naturally, which shows that at least McAuliffe has good non-voiceover skills. While Carroll still has the edge on him acting-wise, the scenes in which they interact are nowhere near as painful as McAuliffe's voiceovers. The movie is chock-full of recognizable adult actors – Rebecca De Mornay and Anthony Edwards as Bryce's parents, John Mahoney as his grandfather, and Penelope Ann Miller and Aidan Quinn as Juli's parents. All acquit themselves well, but only Mahoney truly stands out as Chet, who uses his well-earned wisdom to bridge the gap between Bryce and Juli.

The movie mostly fails to gain traction due to the lack of solid direction by Reiner. For one, the film is set in the '50s/'60s for no discernible reason other than nostalgia, which doesn't play that big of a part in the plot anyway. Also, aside from half of the voiceovers not really working, the back-and-forth between the two main characters is just not compelling. Even when you know where things are headed, there needs to be that certain something that keeps the audience wanting more, and Reiner never infuses the story with that extra oomph.

A popular children's book (albeit one that's nine years old), Flipped should have no problem drawing a decent number of moviegoers. But with a flawed structure and so-so overall storyline, the film is just more evidence that Reiner ain't what he used to be.