Reiner's 'Flipped'

Recently, I wondered what to think of 'Flipped', the new family drama directed by Rob Reiner. Often, it's hard to peg the quality of these pictures. For adult audiences, they're usually pretty mushy affairs. It's rare for one to be engaging for both kids and their parents.

The trailer didn't help matters. Technically, it looked great, but I couldn't get a handle on the content or tone very well.

A couple days ago at The Big Picture, Patrick Goldstein called the movie 'A return to the glory days of 'Stand by Me':

Much to my surprise, the film (adapted by Reiner and Andrew Scheinman from a popular young adult novel written by Wendelin Van Draanen) represents a real comeback for Reiner...

Goldstein shores up his assessment with:

...the most fascinating thing about "Flipped" is that, even though its protagonists are awkward 8th graders, it's a film that adults will respond to as much as kids.

One smart move was to set the movie in the simpler 50s, when kids were just kids. It just makes all that touchy-feely stuff go down easier. About this, Reiner tells Goldstein:

"I wanted the story to feel timeless and pure, in a time before texting and Facebook," he told me. "I thought it was important to strip away the technology so we could get at the true emotions and feelings and make it as innocent as possible."

Okay, I'm sold. Will look forward to this on disc. In theaters August 6.