Before it was a television series about first love in a '60s suburb, "The Wonder Years" was a catch phrase for a brand of white bread. That bland staple would be a suitable accompaniment to the medium-rare romance in "Flipped." Rob Reiner's revisit to the turf he surveyed in the superior "Stand By Me" is so misty-eyed, it makes "Happy Days" seem like "All in the Family."

Out of a fuzzy fondness for his past, Reiner has taken a contemporary young-adult novel by Wendelin Van Draanen and transported it to the period from 1957 to 1963.

At age 7, tow-headed Bryce Loski moves with his family to an idyllic Midwestern neighborhood, where he's immediately seized upon by tomboy Juli Baker. Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) tells us in teen voice-over that he tried to avoid Juli (Madeline Carroll) for the next six years, during which she fought to save the neighborhood sycamore tree and regularly brought the Loskis farm-fresh eggs.

Her forthrightness provokes the scorn of Bryce and his snobbish father (Anthony Edwards). But when Bryce's grandfather (John Mahoney) learns that the Bakers are poor because they are supporting a mentally handicapped uncle, the old man and the feisty girl become pals, and Bryce sees her in a new light.

The title of the movie refers not only to being smitten but to the periodic flipping of the point of view from Bryce's to Julie's. Although it's not quite clear why she mistakes this dullard for a dreamboat, the crossed wires generate a pleasant hum in tune with the too-familiar '50s music.

"Flipped" is as phony as a poodle-skirted waitress at a mall diner, yet it's as sweet as a malt. A vanilla one.