A peroxide-blonde Jennifer Jason Leigh leads the cast of Skipped Parts, a bittersweet coming of age tale set in 1963. At fourteen, Sam Callahan (Bug Hall) is more of an adult than his mother (Leigh). He even calls her “Lydia” because she refuses to be reminded that she is a mother. She is a rebel and a screw-up in the eyes of her strict and politically hungry father (R. Lee Ermey), so he “exiles” the family to the small town of GroVont, Wyoming. Sam is an avid reader and an aspiring author. He vows to write a novel that doesn’t skip over the “good parts,” but first he needs to figure out what those good parts are all about. At school, he meets his match in Maurey Pierce (Mischa Barton) who also wants to learn about sex so that she will know exactly what to do when the time comes “for real”. Meanwhile, Lydia meets Hank (Michael Greyeyes), a Blackfoot Indian, and sees in him a new way to annoy her father. Sam may be the central character, but he isn’t the only one who grows up in this movie; Maurey and Lydia also have a lot of maturing to do.
Setting Skipped Parts in 1963 adds a nice touch. It occupies a grey area between the perceived innocence of the 1950s and the perceived hedonism of the late 1960s, and it allows author/screenwriter Tim Sandlin to use the Kennedy assassination as a plot point.
Skipped Parts was intended for full theatrical release but it was pushed forward so many times that it eventually went straight to video. Considering the subject matter (young teens exploring sex) it is a wonder that the film was made at all, as Sandlin’s novel of the same title caused some scandal. This movie is much less raunchy than American Pie and no more raunchy than Little Darlings, both notorious for promoting teen sexuality. But while sex is at the surface of this movie, family is at its heart. Promotional trailers colour Skipped Parts as a comedy, but there are some pretty tragic events in this so-called comedy. Its tone echoes Fried Green Tomatoes andMermaids and Judy Blume’s teen novels of the 1970s, which were banned by hundreds of school librarians. In a world where teen sexuality is a reality – just look at the statistics for teen pregnancy – why is it so bad to write a book or make a movie that deals with the subject? To make matters worse, movies covering this territory are almost always rated R in the U.S., so the teens who might benefit can’t even see them. Do your teen a favour and rent them Skipped Parts. Watch it first if you’re concerned, or watch it with them if they’ll let you. Either way, it might just open the door for discussion.
