WOMAN.ca Gives Flipped Four Big, Swollen Hearts

You never really know what to expect when you pick up a movie you've never seen before or heard of, a movie that has some actors that are well known and some that aren't.

Sometimes you get a dud. But with “Flipped”? You get a gem.

Based on the novel of the same name by Wendelin Van Draanen and starring heavy hitters like Aidan Quinn, Rebecca De Mornay, and John Mahoney alongside rising star Madeline Carroll and relative newcomer Callan McAullife, “Flipped” is a quintessential romantic tale of two eighth graders who fall in love despite being polar opposites.

***SPOILER ALERT*** I'm going to tell you what happens. If you don't want to know... don't read on!

Set in the 60s, at the tender age of seven, Julianna Baker (deftly played by Carroll) falls head over heels for Bryce Loski (McAulliffe) when he and his family move into the neighbourhood.

As the unrequited love story unfolds, we're treated to two versions of the same tale – while Julie has “flipped” for Bryce (at one point... she sniffs his hair...), he's a little turned off and does what he can to dissuade the attention – dates other girls, makes up excuses. The usual. It's an interesting device, which in most cases would leave you confused, but serves the story well in this instance.

Both their young lives change when Bryce's grandfather Chet Duncan (Mahoney) moves in with the family. He is immediately taken with the mini ingenue next door after reading an article about her desperate attempt to save the neighborhood sycamore by refusing to come down from it. She reminds him of his late wife. Chet takes the time to talk to Julie and learn about her life, her family, information which he inevitably shares with the Loski's one evening.

Julie learns one life lesson after another – from discovering that “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” from her father Richard (Quinn), to her new-found understanding and relationship with her mentally challenged uncle Daniel (played by Kevin Weisman), to coming to terms with the harsh truths of high school.

And as her feelings for Bryce fade with each new realization, he finally sees past the vapid expectations of teenage puppy love and finds himself “flipping” for her.

By the end of the movie (after having her home and family insulted) and an awkward almost-kiss scene that would leave even the hardest soul cringing, Julie wants nothing to do with Bryce. In a valiant effort to win her heart and prove that he's not the lout that he seems to be, he finally wins her over by planting a sycamore in her front yard.

Heart-warming and achingly sweet are a couple terms that come to mind after watching this.

While the sub-plots are equally complex and could use a little more fleshing out (Bryce's father Steven (played by Anthony Edwards) comes across as callous and crude – you can't help but wonder why), the main story line remains clear throughout, only benefiting from the depth and emotion lent to the characters by what little we learn through the minor ones.

Basically, this film pretty much nails how awful and wonderful it felt to be at that age - innocent, when all you could really think about was the first kiss, and what it might be like to hold his hand... we were all that captivated by someone once.

Do you remember your first crush?

Hilary Lauren Fox
		About the author:
		Sometimes she's a redhead, sometimes she's a blonde. Some days it's H&M, and on other days, it's Chanel. What ever the mood, she is a woman who is passionate about the arts, fashion and social media. Born in Toronto, Hilary Lauren Fox is an only child to artist parents - mom was an illustrator and pattern maker, dad was a painter.  Rather then studying the arts as her parents hoped for, Hilary opted for a degree in psychology with dreams of working in a clinical setting. But after graduating she realized that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and that the arts was in her blood, applying her education within the art and fashion world.
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