7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
When second-graders Bryce and Juli first meet, Juli knows it's love. Bryce isn't so sure. In the days and years ahead, Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) does all he can to keep his wannabe girl-friend at arm's length - and the smart, independent-minded Juli (Madeline Carroll) continues to give him the benefit of the doubt. This tender coming-of-age romantic comedy from director Rob Reiner takes the pair from grade school to junior high, through triumph and disaster, family drama and first love, as they make discoveries that will define who they are - and who they are to each other.
Starring: Madeline Carroll, Callan McAuliffe, Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards, John MahoneyRomance | 100% |
Coming of age | 37% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy (on disc)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Rob Reiner seems to have fallen on hard creative times. The award-winning filmmaker who gave cinephiles This is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men in the '80s and early '90s soon began churning out less-than-spectacular genre pics like North, Ghosts of Mississippi, The Story of Us, Alex & Emma, Rumor Has It, and The Bucket List. Quite a dramatic shift. Sadly, Flipped isn't Reiner's long-awaited return to form. Instead, it stands as one of his worst; a dissonant heartstring symphony as contrived as it is tiresome, as underdeveloped as it is disingenuous, as irritating as it is forgettable.
Young love blooms...
Warner continues its long-teased conversion to AVC MPEG-4 encoding standards with Flipped's faithful 1080p presentation. The results aren't exactly stunning, but neither is the film's diffuse photography. Soft at times, hazy at others, Reiner's return to the golden age of his youth is a slow-roasted bit of heavy-handed nostalgia; one marinated in rich, amber hues and warm, savory primaries. Skintones occasionally appear oversaturated, but remain relatively lifelike throughout; black levels are generally deep and absorbing, but weaken under difficult lighting conditions; and contrast, though inconsistent, is well within the filmmakers' period framework. Uneasy about the transfer itself? Don't be. For better or worse, any and all perceived shortcomings trace back to Reiner's intentions. The same can be said of the presentation's detail. Fine textures are reasonably refined but inherently underwhelming, image clarity is in a constant state of slight flux, and edges, while fairly satisfying on the whole, are sometimes misty and indistinct. Again though, all signs point to Reiner, not the studio's encoding efforts. Artifacting, banding, aliasing, crush and unseemly smearing are held at bay, and the banding that appears around a handful of light sources is altogether negligible. Is the Blu-ray edition of Flipped going to drop any jaws? Hardly. Is its transfer true to Reiner's vision? Without a doubt. Ultimately, little else matters.
Flat, front-heavy and more repressed than Bryce's father, Flipped's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is neither immersive nor engaging, falling short regardless of what fills the screen. It isn't a complete loss by any means -- dialogue is clean, clear and perfectly prioritized, and the film's conversational nature and persistent narration sounds every bit as good as it should -- but it also fails to draw the listener into Bryce and Julie's world. Low-end output is merely serviceable (not that the LFE channel has many opportunities to be anything more), rear speaker activity ranges from uninvolving to non-existent, directionality is unconvincing, dynamics lack power and presence, and other fundamental qualities of the mix don't contribute much of note. While I suspect the film's original sound design is largely to blame, Flipped's lossless track isn't going to woo anyone.
Be sure to set aside a weekend (or, I don't know... twenty minutes) to dig through Flipped's small stack of special features, none of which resonate, amuse or reveal anything of note.
If your family's TiVo is continually pointed at the Hallmark Movie Channel, Flipped may hold some appeal. But if you loathe unmuzzled melodrama, sticky screenwriting, muddy dialogue, and the sort of unlikeable characters that frequent Reiner's love story, I would suggest steering clear. Warner's Blu-ray release is just as uneven. While its video transfer faithfully captures the filmmakers' every intention, its dull DTS-HD Master Audio track will keep audiophiles at a distance and its twenty-minute supplemental package will disappoint even the film's biggest fans. My advice? Move along, there's nothing to see here.
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