This review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.

After the last couple of decades Rob Reiner’s had, it’s no surprise he’s begun mining the material that solidified him as a director of note in the first place, particularly 1986’s Stand by Me, about four boys’ physical and psychological journey from innocence to manhood. In Flipped, a 1960s coming-of-age romantic comedy adapted from a tween novel by Wendelin Van Draanen, Reiner attempts to recapture some of his former magic. Trouble is, cinematic lightning rarely strikes the same place twice and while I wholeheartedly applaud his effort to make a sweet, uncynical movie, like the vast majority of Reiner’s recent efforts, Flipped is bland, paper thin and mind-numbingly monotonous.

Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) and Juli (Madeline Carroll) have lived across the street from each other since the second grade. Since she first laid eyes on him, Juli knew Bryce was the one. Bryce, however, was going to need a lot more convincing. Beautiful, smart, passionate and outspoken, it’s not hard to see why Juli is worth the attention. Too bad the same can’t be said for Bryce, a spineless, mealy, unengaging kid with good looks where a modicum of personality should be. Bryce is afraid of Juli because she is unpredictable and overpowering (me thinks the man doth protest too much) and he does everything in his power to drive her away. One day, in seventh grade, it finally works. Of course, that’s when the undeserving jerk finally realizes what we’ve known all along—Juli is, in the words of Bryce’s perceptive grandfather (John Mahoney), “iridescent.” But now that Juli realizes Bryce isn’t the young man she built him up to be, is it too late for him to try to rise to the occasion?

The screenplay, written by Reiner and Andrew Scheinman, constructs parallel his and hers perspectives of every scene in the film—Rashomon with tweens. What at first seems sort of clever quickly turns into an exercise in exasperating tedium. While there are indeed two sides to every story, it doesn’t mean we care to be subjected to both of them. Flipped is like being forced to watch a film you really don’t like—twice.

What really drives the nail into this narrative coffin is Reiner’s use of wall-to-wall voice-over to mirror the structure of the book. Flipped is little more than a book on CD with pictures. There is almost never a moment when the narrator is not speaking. Rob Reiner was clearly sick the day they taught filmmaking at film school—the rule in movies is that you show, not tell the audience what’s going on. Reiner does both. If Juli is devastated that her favorite tree is being cut down and begins to weep in anguish, Reiner’s dueling first-person narration goes something like, “I was devastated that my favorite tree was being cut down and began to weep in anguish.” Yes Rob, thank you for clearing up my confusion. Though only 90 minutes long, there are times the uncompromisingly tedious and mercilessly tiresome Flipped—which doesn’t even silence its golden oldie soundtrack long enough to let us think—feels like we are there for every minute of the protagonists’ turbulent adolescence.

What’s more, Juli and Bryce’s arguments never have the weight of reality to them. Their conflicts continually seem invented and trivial, not merely the sort of inconsequential clashes that children routinely fabricate, but disagreements so staggeringly petty and over-exaggerated that they don’t match the emotional energy the characters display, much less that which Reiner clearly intends us to invest in them.

There’s not a lot to this The Wonder Years clone that, if I’m honest, plays more like a really bad middle school play. While Reiner clearly demonstrates insight into and even compassion for the trials and tribulations of young people making the transition from childhood to adulthood, he earns neither laughs nor sentimentality and ultimately has only himself to blame.

© Copyright 2010 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.

Directed by Rob Reiner
Starring: Callan McAuliffe, Madeline Carroll, Aidan Quinn, Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards, John Mahoney
Rated PG for language and some thematic material.
Running Time: 90 minutes