Skipped Parts

Skipped Parts, based on a purportedly much-loved book that I've never heard of, tells the unlikely story of a 15-year-old boy (Bug Hall) in the early 1960s, whose trashy mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh, a fright in platinum blonde) encourages him to do whatever he wants. Namely, that involves experimenting with sex, and our buddy Bug does so, frequently, with the local cheerleader (Mischa Barton, the scariest looking young actress in film today, next to Gaby Hoffman). Meanwhile, mom sluts it up with a friendly Indian while the prepubescent teen becomes pregnant during all this boning.

And our 15-year-old teen decides "he's just ready to be a father."

This kind of irresponsible tripe comes off as aloof and insulting, a paean to an era of sexual exploration and freedom that has simply never existed in the extreme shown here. Purportedly a lighthearted comedy, Skipped Parts is just not funny. It's perverse, and while I like edgy films as much as anyone, this movie is not avant-garde, it's simply pointless.

Director Tamra Davis, best known for directing one crappy movie after another (including Half Baked and Billy Madison), does herself another disservice with this one. Her endless chattering on the DVD's commentary track makes it ever more apparent that she has no idea what kind of junker she has created.

We, however, can be a little more discerning.