(You're never too young to learn that love is more than just another four-letter word...)
CAST: Madeleine Carroll, Callan McAuliffe, Rebecca DeMornay, Anthony Edwards, Aidan Quinn, Penelope Ann Miller.
DIRECTOR: Rob Reiner
WARNING: Minimal SPOILERS and "he said, she said" shenanigans right up ahead.
Ah... love. What the hell is it? Why do we invest so much time and effort and angst into something so volatile and unpredictable? Where does its capability to turn us into googley-eyed idiots come from? Well, I'll tell you what, why, and where: it's because we humans are colossal masochists. We just don't know it. How else to explain an emotional act that is tantamount to putting on a blindfold, and then sticking your hand into a hole that could either be: (1) filled with soothing, calming, fragrant lavender water; or (2) a school of starving piranhas who also just happen to be having a really bad day? And, as our next review attests to, this self-mutilating tendency starts early in life.
FLIPPED is set in the 50's and tells the story of adolescents Juli Baker (Madeleine Carroll) and Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe), next door neighbors, and how a chaste love story develops between them over the years. Actually, the story pretty much starts out one-sided. It all begins when Bryce moves into the neighborhood as a 7-year old . Juli's family lives right next door, and the moving truck is just too big to escape Juli's sharp-eyed vigilance. She zooms over to offer her assistance in unloading the truck, friendly as bumblebee on ecstasy (and about as annoying), but Bryce's dad (Anthony Edwards) pretty much tell her to buzz off (Ha-Ha, get it? "Buzz" off...). Bryce, obviously a shit off the old block, basically gives Juli the stink-eye and shows that he will one day grow up to be man's man - by hiding behind his mom. Unfortunately, Juli makes the gargantuan mistake of interpreting this as shyness - and the chase is on, baby.
And so begins years of Juli doing the following to Bryce: (1) trailing after him in school like an adoring puppy-dog that just doesn't understand the meaning of "leave me the hell alone," (2) shooting him googley-eyes that would make even Satan blush, (3) sniffing his hair from behind him in class to soak in his "watermelon-scented" shampoo, (4) and making weekly deliveries of, um, fresh eggs to Bryce's doorstep. You see, Juli's family is one of them eccentric and quirky families that you find mostly in movies (or south Seattle) who have chickens in their back yards. And where there are chickens, there are eggs. And where there are eggs, there are unending offerings to the altar of the Brycemeister. And who gives a fuck about his cholesterol?
Unfortunately, Bryce doesn't quite treat these gifts in the way that Juli would like. Nope, at the behest of Dad the Asshole, he chucks those babies in the garbage every week - usually right after Julie drops them off. If you're thinking, "wow, that's cold," wait until you hear what happens when Juli finds out the truth at around the time they are 13. Basically, she ignores Bryce from then on, so hurt is she by the fact that her eggs haven't been used for egg salad at all, but rather to weigh down trash bags. Things get even chillier when Juli's favorite sycamore tree - which she would climb daily to, I guess, spy on Bryce - is chopped down, after Bryce fails to join her in an attempt to keep the city from toppling it.
That's the last straw. If you thought Catherine Trammell (BASIC INSTINCT), Elektra King (THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH), or Camille Montes (QUANTUM OF SOLACE) were dangerous ice princesses, those bitches ain't got nothin' on young Juli Baker, who basically proceeds to drive Bryce crazy by... ignoring him. Yup, she just goes about her daily life as if he doesn't exist, and as if she doesn't hear him when he speaks to her. Bryce, being a guy, gets some serious whiplash from this jarring (to say the least) 180 degree curve ball. The thought that the girl who panted after him since he was 7 now acts as if he's something that got stuck to the bottom of her shoes is, well, fucking scary. Wait, that would be an insult to things that actually get stuck on the bottom of Juli's shoes, because she actually takes the time to take care of those. Nope, Bryce is even lower than that in her regard now - if that's possible.
Not to spoil the story any further but - needless to say - being a man, Bryce spends the next year doing the following: (1) missing Juli somethin' fierce, (2) realizing he loves her after all, (3) and doing whatever it takes to win her back. Like a typical guy who didn't realize what he had when he had her. Which is, I guess, a stalker. Which is what he becomes to win her back. Hence the title. What? Did you think it was called FLIPPED because Bryce finally got sick of Juli blowing kisses at him and gave her the International Sign For Fuck Off and Die? Nope, it's because the dipshit ironically fell under her spell. Or as Nietzsche opined, "When being chased by someone like a fucking puppy, be careful that they don't pull any voo-doo crap on you, because you might just fall under their spell in the process - and end up chasing them like a fucking puppy." Or was that Hallmark. I forget. Whatever. Watch the movie. It's cute.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Simple, sweet, and soulful, FLIPPED is a minimalist love story that gains a lot of mileage from taking the worn-out tale of "boy-meets-girl" and makes it fresh and timeless again by telling it from the point-of-view of two thirteen year olds. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect when a friend and I attended this screening. Part of me was hoping for a movie that would be about how the "The Finger" gesture evolved through history. But with Rob Reiner (STAND BY ME) directing and not Trey Parker and Matt Stone (SOUTH PARK), that's not likely to happen. What we got instead was a lovely romance that hits home because of its direct, no-frills presentation - and the truth at its core: love is crazy and knows no rules.
Madeleine Carroll and Callan McAuliffe are solid as the leads. Carroll, in particular, continues to prove what a find she is. Combine her work here with her performance as Kevin Costner's precocious daughter in SWING VOTE, and there's no denying her talent. In SWING VOTE, her believably touching relationship with Costner was the film's grand centerpiece - a feat that she is just as much responsible for pulling off as her talented and more experienced co-star. In FLIPPED she once again proves to be equal to the task of holding up her end of the screen. McAuliffe, whom I have never seen in anything else before, more than holds his own. He easily navigates the path from skittish and bashful in the first part of the film when Juli's attentions basically smother him, then to penitent and chastened when Juli turns her back on him after his betrayal, and finally to lovesick and soulful when he realizes just how much he really cares for her. McAuliffe makes Bryce's transformation seamless and exhilarating to follow.
The rest of the supporting cast is comprised of familiar and experienced faces: Aidan Quinn and Penelope Ann Miller as Juli's eccentric but modest parents; Anthony Edwards and Rebecca DeMornay as Bryce's borderline-snooty parents. The characters these veterans play have their own issues to deal with, but they graciously give center stage to the two young leads, never drawing too much attention from them. After all, this is Juli and Bryce's story.
So... the big question? Is Bryce only chasing after Juli because she stopped chasing him? Is he just proving the adage that the thrill is in the pursuit? Will he lose interest as soon as she gives in to him? Or does he really love her? Did he really love her all those years but was so intimidated by her actions that he buried it? Did he only realize it after he hurt her? Did this wake him up?
The thing is we'll never know. Because the movie's ending is actually the beginning of the real story. But FLIPPED's tagline provides a clue: "You Never Forget Your First Love."
