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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 49746
Released: September 17, 2002 |
| Our Price: $9.43 |
| Used Price: $3.62 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Two star-crossed misfits risk everything to be together in this sexy and amusing coming-of-age film. Starring Noah Taylor (Vanilla Sky), Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2), and Academy Award® nominee* Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge), Flirting is a "brilliant"(The Washington Post) story about first love that's "miles ahead of the average teenage film" (Variety)! With his slight stature, obstinate stutter and love for existentialism, Danny (Taylor) doesn't quite fit in at his rugby-dominated boys' school. But then he falls for radiant, intellectual Thandiwe (Newton)an African student ostracized by the icy clique leader (Kidman) of a nearby girls' school. Despite meddling classmates, imperious teachers and a lake separating their schools, Danny and Thandiwe's romance blossoms...until a crisis threatens to take Thandiwe away forever. *2001: Actress, Moulin Rouge
Description of Flirting:
The second part of a projected trilogy by Australian director John Duigan (the preceding film was The Year My Voice Broke), Flirting is a wonderful tale of misfit adolescents who find their independence through a forbidden, interracial relationship. Noah Taylor returns to Duigan's ongoing story as Danny, a gangly stutterer with a wry wit, few friends, and a big crush on Thandiwe (Thandie Newton), a Ugandan student whose father is in some political danger back home. Danny goes to a boys academy and Thandiwe boards at a girls school nearby. The two meet secretly and deepen their doomed affair, exploring adulthood for the first time on their own terms. Duigan is a director who can occasionally be seduced by the surface of things, but Flirting is richly layered in tones both light and ominous, youthful performances that easily alternate between childhood buoyancy and grown-up passion, and a hard-won wisdom about the mysteries of loss. An added bonus is a terrific supporting performance by Nicole Kidman. --Tom Keogh
Flirting Reviews:
oldie and so so story 
2009-03-19 - Young Thandie and Nicole in a boring movie. If you are collecting movies about either actress leave this one out. I would have given it one star but seeing the two acting together is a two star novelty.
Aussie 'Coming of Age' Classic Showcases Future Stars... 
2008-01-29 - "Flirting", John Duigan's sly yet tender 1991 'Coming of Age' comedy is still, a decade and a half after it's release, one of the better teen comedies ever made, and is even more enjoyable today, as a showcase for future stars Nicole Kidman, Thandie Newton, Naomi Watts, and Noah Taylor.
While the elements of the story are familiar (boys and girls boarding schools, separated by a lake...raging hormones...a geeky hero 'proving' himself, romantically), don't be too quick to lump "Flirting" in with "Porky's" or the "American Pie" films. Despite brief graphic nudity, and some coarse humor, the film has a depth that it's American counterparts never achieve, and characters that defy stereotyping. Danny 'Bird' Embling (Taylor) is caned, early in the film, and soon falls for black African girl, Thandiwe Adjewa (Newton), with the 1960s setting providing elements of racism and political upheaval in Africa to the story's mix. The 'virgin queen' of the girl's school (Kidman) isn't as 'full of herself' as an American film might have portrayed her; the imperious facade she presents to the world masks a shy, sensitive teen who hides her sexual curiosity and vulnerability.
With intelligence and respect, Duigan never 'dumbs down' the leads (would a reference to Camus ever appear in an American teen comedy?), and makes the first sexual experience between Embling and Adjewa both naive and sexy, without being overtly graphic. This tastefulness extends to the motel climax of the children's affair; Duigan eschews the quick laughs of "American Pie II", focusing, instead, on the very real embarrassment all parties would face, if discovered 'in the act'.
Another 'plus' for the film is the attention paid to the day-to-day activities of the boarding schools; rugby, debates, a school dance, a dramatic production, even the repetitive menu of the school lunch, 'grounds' the film in a reality that makes the characters' reactions even funnier.
"Flirting" is a joy!
completely worth watching, but not great. 
2007-05-21 - I really liked this movie, but it was.....there was just something missing. Thandie Newton was great and I like her acting style. Nicole Kidman was really awesome.
It must be ... 
2007-02-28 - I'm not sure why many reviewers are calling this a coming of age film. They seem to me to be already very much of age, perhaps even into mid-life even before reaching university. Although hers somewhat more than his, their maturity shows in their adult mannerisms and how they don't get defensive in dealing with others. There's a moving scene between the fathers after the school play when, in an empathic way, one says to the other, "I'm not surprised (you don't talk about it). It must be very hard for anyone to understand how tough it was."
Movie gold from Down Under.
Superb coming-of-age film
2006-03-06 - Despite the cover art on the DVD case, this excellent film doesn't star Nicole Kidman, although she does give a fine supporting performance -- no, the story belongs to Noah Taylor & Thandie Newton, as the two misfits at two boarding schools in the mid-1960s. And it's a lovely, very funny, poignant story of two similar souls finding one another, and experiencing the joys of first love together. Unlike too many American "teen films," it approaches sex with wonder, bemusement, a touch of uncertainty & and an equal touch of bliss. Loneliness is the undercurrent here, avoided by most of the students who have learned to fit in, but clearly affecting the more sensitive among them. And here's where Nicole Kidman's performance is so good: as an icy upperclass student, she reveals her own insecurities & very human longings in a touching scene of empathy with Thandie Newton, late in the film. In short, a tender & touching love story with two very real teenagers -- highly recommended!
