Whip It: BD Review
|
Page 1 of 3 Fox / 111 Minutes / 2009 / Rated PG-13 / Street Date: January 26, 2010
The invigorating surprise of 2009, Drew Barrymore's Whip It is a goofy, empowering fantasia of a movie, a girl-power tale of sport, young love and hero worship that hits all the right notes. This writer wasn't what to make of the movie - I love me some roller derby, but I was worried that the film was going to be too cutesy to succeed - but watching the finished product in a cinema in Portland, OR last year was one of my cinematic highlights of the year: The movie made me want to go out and make my dreams come true. Like McG with his original Charlie's Angels movie (if you haven't seen that one in a while, revisit it: It's a saccharine classic), Whip it is profound without being preachy, dramatic yet not sappy. There's a certain unapologetic tone to the film's characters and plot development that is the narrative equivalent of a pissed-off middle finger gesture, and it's this devil-may-care attitude that serves the picture so well.
The film follows young Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), a girl trapped by the teeny-bop beauty pageant bent of her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) and a seemingly dead-end job at a lovely eating establishment called The Oink Joint. But this hamster wheel of pain and suffering is stopped hard when Bliss stumbles upon an Austin, TX roller derby circuit, a collection of all-girl teams - with decidedly competitive interests - who vie and support one another in ways Bliss never knew. So she lies to momma, telling her she's taking a study class on practice nights, and straps her skates and helmet on snugly in an attempt to participate in what she refers to as the 'only thing she's ever been in love with'. Yes, there are boys, and yes, there's drama when momma finds out that her daughter is more Yoko Ono than Mary Hart, but Whip It isn't a movie made to subvert viewer notions - it's a movie aimed to trigger the heartstrings of anyone who's ever had bigger-than-life visions for themselves. And who knew Barrymore was such a behind-the-camera presence? She's produced for many years, but her ease with the material in Whip It makes this writer hope she does as much directing work as acting: She's got the touch. |
Comments (0)