Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I found this film to be a welcome relief from the self-righteous, hypocritical obsession with sex as evil in our confused society. I'm sure that viewers aligned with the extreme religious right are aghast at the sexual frankness of "Skipped Parts". I only wish they were as upset over the war in Iraq, America's obsession with violence and the rampant intolerance still pervading the home of the free. Instead, sex and four-letter words top the list of moral outrages in the minds of far too many of our number."Skipped Parts" is a compassionate view of outside-the-mainstream people at odds with the establishment. Granted, unprotected sex among teenagers is impractical and unwise, but hardly a reason to despise and condemn. Especially by those who have, as do some of the characters in the film, plenty of skeletons in their own closets.Well-written, well-acted and well-directed, "Skipped Parts" is a moral film in which the highest virtues are kindness, forgiveness, and love.

A book that makes you fall completely head-over-heels for its main character because of his wit and self-deprecating charm should not result in a movie that conjures the same character as an uneven, somewhat arrogant pest. I can accept that the film won't be able to transport the viewer the way the words on the page can, but the sad part is that this movie never even comes close.In the book, Sam Callahan is heartwarming. He's a kid you want to get to know. You want to reassure him that it's okay to be this awkward when you're 13, and that everyone's adolescence (or most people's, anyway) are miserable. You laugh when he cracks a joke or lets you in on one of his precocious personal witticisms. You're moved when he talks about the Kennedy assassination from an intelligent but still hopelessly naive point of view. He eases the shock of sexual experimentation and of Maury's teenage pregnancy and takes you right into the reality of dealing with the consequences - of kids and adults thrown into circumstances that would make anyone grow up.But maybe it's too tall an order for film. Maybe the topics are too sensitive and the inner monologue is too hard to convey. Isn't it almost always the case that the movie adaptations of books fall on their faces to some extent? Sure.The problem is that this movie is still terrible. It hits so far away from what made the book enjoyable that you have to be a little bit irritated at the filmmakers for even trying.My advice if you're thinking about renting/buying this is to put your money away and read this book. (I got it from Netflix, and I seriously considered scratching the words "read the book" into the back of the DVD before I sent it back.) The book will give you a week of solid enjoyment, and that beats two hours of confusion and nausea pretty much any day.

Skipped Parts was a dark comedy, there is no doubt about that. I especially enjoyed the innuendo; it added to the feeling of guilty pleasure you get from watching a movie like this. I guess the typical Leave it to Beaver image of the 1950s in my mind created a sense of perverse pleasure while viewing the characters' twisted lives. Bug Hall's last few lines at the end of this movie summed up it's purpose: the movie is one big statement about the sexual and social paradoxes present in the society of the 1950s and, in all reality, in today's society also. While being poorly developed characters, you cannot help but root for the two kids. The religious right would go ape over this movie, if they watched anything besides The Bible Network. It raises some curious questions about the nature and structure of the family and reproductive responsibility. Overall, I would give it a 6.5 out of 10. A good waste of time, but little else.

I have enjoyed Bug Hall and Mischa Barton for a while now as child and teen actors and to see them together in somewhat of an enjoyable "sleeper" was rather nice.As the title of the movie portrays, you have two kids at the point in their lives where they're just learning about sex --- but it's mostly mechanical. They seem to enjoy exploring each other and having sex with each other but the boy's mother doesn't help much. She gives them advice on certain ways to enjoy it but skips certain parts -- like wearing condoms or the fact that if you don't wear condoms it can lead to a surprise pregnancy.It's a nice flick, nonetheless, though.