Themes: Sexual Awakening, First Love, Single Parents
Main Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bug Hall, Mischa Barton, Peggy Lipton, Brad Renfro, Drew Barrymore
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this comedy-drama, a teenage boy gets a crash course in the mysteries of love and sex. Lydia Callahan (Jennifer Jason Leigh) had her son Sam when she was only 14 years old. Now 14 himself, Sam (Bug Hall) finds himself in the small community of GroVont, WY, after his mother is run out of town by her own father (R. Lee Ermey). While Lydia is helped through her transition by Hank Elkrunner (Michael Greyeyes), Sam doesn't fit in at school and runs afoul of bully Dothan Talbot (Brad Renfro). But he soon makes friends with classmate Maurey Pierce (Mischa Barton), who makes an unusual proposal: since she doesn't want to seem inexperienced when she loses her virginity, perhaps Sam could help her practice the finer points of sex. While Sam is more than willing to help, this arrangement creates complications that his fantasies about his Dream Girl (Drew Barrymore) have not prepared him for. Skipped Parts is based on the novel of the same name by Tim Sandlin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
The production company Trimark had theatrical expectations for this title in 2001, but a test release failed to indicate there would be significant business for a coming-of-age saga set in 1963 Wyoming, even with the very hot Drew Barrymore and the always respected Jennifer Jason Leigh. Trimark did the right thing: Skipped Parts is not Summer of '42, and mainstream appeal would have been elusive. But as a video, Skipped Parts is perfectly acceptable fare, especially if viewers expect no more than a well-mounted cable television production. The low-key laughs are refreshingly sincere, with none of the gross-out factor that defines modern teen comedies, and the characterizations are oddly charming. Leigh is a bit over the top, but her fans expect that, and Barrymore is limited to a few camped-up cameos as the obscure object of desire, but it's still Barrymore in a nightgown. Viewers who don't expect much will be charmed, though an issue raised in an uncomfortable middle section could be touchy with some viewers. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Kimberly Davis - Casting, Justine Baddeley - Casting, Jennifer Jason Leigh - Co-producer, Robin Schorr - Co-producer, Peter Marshall - Co-producer, Ehud Ellman - First Assistant Director, Tamra Davis - Director, Luis Colina - Editor, Mark Amin - Executive Producer, Tamra Davis - Executive Producer, Michael R. Elliott - Executive Producer, Stewart Copeland - Composer (Music Score), Ian D. Thomas - Production Designer, Claudio Rocha - Cinematographer, Sharon Oreck - Producer, Alison Dickey - Producer, Aurora Ojeda - Sound/Sound Designer, Tim Sandlin - Book Author
Skipped Parts (also known as The Wonder of Sex in the UK), is a movie based on Tim Sandlin's book of the same name. Skipped Parts is the first in a series of novels based on the lives of Maury and Sam, the second and final being Sorrow Floats and Social Blunders. The film about a group of characters living in a small Wyoming town. After making the film-festival rounds in 2000, it had a limited release by Trimark Pictures. The title comes from how certain books mention sex and romance, but skips their factual aspects.
In 1963, a liberal-minded woman, Lydia, has a 14-year-old son, Sam. Lydia's father is running for governor of North Carolina, and he does not want Lydia and Sam in his way, so the two are banished from North Carolina. Arriving in Wyoming, Lydia only wants to have a good time and Sam is never allowed to call her "Mom" (she wants him to call her "Lydia").
Sam soon finds out that he is one of only two students in Grovant High School who can read. The other one is Maurey, a girl at the same age as Sam who wants to learn about sex. Consequent to their mutual discoveries, Maurey becomes pregnant. Maury decides to have an abortion in a distant hospital, and by accident, runs into her mother and the baseball coach who is also there with the same intent.
Maurey moves to Lydia's and Sam's house, since her father banishes her from his house. Meanwhile, Hank Elkrunner, a Blackfoot, falls for the feckless Lydia, while her dictatorial dad keeps tabs on them all from afar.
In the end, Maury decides not to have an abortion and keeps the baby, a little girl named Shannon. After being threatened to be financially cut off unless she breaks up with Hank, and lets Sam go to Military School, Lydia decides to stay with Hank, and takes a job at the local diner. In addition, Hank sells his trailer and moves in with Sam and Lydia, along with Maurey and Shannon who decide to permanently move in. The film ends with Sam finishing the flashback for the story, with Shannon nearby.
