WHIP IT
Rated PG-13 for sexual content including crude dialogue, language and drug material.
111 minutes
Fox Searchlight
**** out of 5
When it comes to mainstream Hollywood entertainment Drew Barrymore is a lot of people’s favorite actress. Many call her cute-as-a-button but I have never been convinced of either of these things. When I first read she was going to be directing a film about a teen roller derby star I had hopes that what she delivered was at least mildly entertaining. Ms. Barrymore manages to deliver in spades.
From the opening title sequence to the film’s obvious mise en scène I knew something special was about to unfold. Whether it be the camaraderie between the cast to musical cues to just the downright likeability of the entire cast everything seems to have gone inexplicably right for Barrymore’s sophomore effort.
Drew Barrymore has lots of funny friends and thankfully they all get the spotlight more than her in what could have wound up as another run-of-the-mill vanity project. Instead of another “Gigli” or “Glitter” we get a huge crowd pleaser about a bunch of girls that I am sure most moviegoers will have no idea even existed. Here in Salt Lake City we even have our own Derby Girls whose information can be found on their homepage at www.saltcityderbygirls.com.
Shauna Cross is still a newcomer in the world of screenwriting with “Whip It” being her first big theatrical release. This is also the directing debut of Drew Barrymore and the two have managed to combine forces, along with lots of Barrymore’s friends, to bring us a great little story about a girl who finds something she finally loves in life even if it means some literal and figurative bumps and bruises along the way. Cross also wrote the novel the movie is based on and the film intrigues me enough to possibly read the book or at least add her first screenwriting attempt “Taking 5” to my NetFlix queue.
With a cast consisting of Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Daniel Stern, Jimmy Fallon, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell, Eve, Juliette Lewis, Andrew Wilson (the much lesser-known brother of Luke and Owen) and Barrymore herself, you would think that it would be a fight to the finish for any one of them to get their fair share of screen time. Thanks to Cross’s script and Barrymore’s breezy direction everyone gets their chance to shine.
Ellen Page makes her first screen presence since “Smart People” and her first starring role since “Juno” as Bliss Cavendar. A plucky indie 17-year-old residing in Bodeen, Texas who spends her time working at the Oink Joint with best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat, “Arrested Development”) and participating against her will in local beauty pageants for her mother, Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden). When her mother drags Bliss out shopping for shoes at what turns into being a head shop, Bliss runs into some local Derby Girls dropping off flyers for tryouts at a head shop where they’re purchasing shoes. She becomes instantly fascinated and lies to her parents about attending an out of town high school football game with Pash.
Immediately smitten with the sport she lies to the league about her age in order to attend tryouts where she makes the team and becomes an instant success in the eyes of Razor (Andrew Wilson), coach for the Hurl Scouts. After a semi-raid on the warehouse they have the competitions at, Pash is arrested for under-age drinking leading her parents to finding out that she has been participating in this new sport and not attending an SAT class as they were told.
Her mother is insistent that she compete in one final pageant which happens to be the same night as the derby finals and now she must either give in or surrender to her parents who are divided between their little girl having fun in a moment of life or doing as she’s told. We also must not leave out the obligatory love story that is playful and endearing rather than forced and annoying.
The cast is obviously having a tremendous amount of fun and Barrymore shows far more competency behind the camera. She even keeps her own character to a minimum giving time for characterization where you would least expect it. Jimmy Fallon manages to be funny again while Kristen Wiig pulls out a true performance in what is the closest she’s had to a starring role in her own right. Zoe Bell doesn’t have quite as much to do and was obviously cast more for her being a stunt woman who can act which makes the director’s job easier as she showed us in Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof.” And while Ellen Page luckily doesn’t just ape her “Juno” persona, a scene involving Bliss and Pash giving Bliss’s younger sister Shania (Eulala Scheel) a “make-over” is not only hilarious but rings true without being corny.
If you’re looking for a great time this weekend look no further. A great script, direction with just the right amount of truth and a cast having the time of their life it all adds up to a stirring crowd pleaser. However, lets not forget this weeks other big release, “Zombieland,” which I will also be giving a shout out come Friday.
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