Movie Review: Whip It! (2009)

It's girl power and it's quite fun

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is a success as Whip It takes "girl power" and turns it into a healthy dose of fun. While I wouldn't say Barrymore has any kind of distinct flair or style to her work just yet, she chose a perfect starter project for her first time out and it looks like they had a blast putting it together.

Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar, a small town girl living a life of beauty pageants and working as a waitress at the Oink Joint with absolutely nothing to entertain her until one day she sees three girls on roller skates and Babe Ruthless is born. Bliss soon joins the Roller Derby team known as The Hurl Scouts, and escapes her life in small-town Bodeen, Texas to roll with the likes of Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig), Smashley Simpson (Barrymore), Eva Destruction (Ari Graynor), Rosa Sparks (Eve) and Bloody Holly (Zoe Bell). Her chief rival… Iron Maven played by Juliette Lewis.

The cast is where Barrymore wins the audience over as the script based on the Shauna Cross novel and adapted by Cross herself is really nothing more than any other cliched sports movie you've seen. But the female centric, Roller Derby twist to it all is an element of surprise for anyone that doesn't typically take to an abandoned warehouse for a good old-fashioned Roller Derby. I don't know about you, but I knew the sport existed, but as far as how it was played I was clueless.

Whip It follows Bliss's travels out from under the thumb of her controlling stage mom played by Marcia Gay Harden, just as only she could play it, naively attempting to strong-arm her daughter's life without realizing she is simply pushing her away. Playing Bliss's father is Daniel Stern, who gets the more sympathetic "choose your battles" role, but its done in such a way that you realize the Cavendar family isn't a dysfunctional bunch as much as they are going through a learning phase and you become emotionally connected watching them mature, both Bliss and her parents.

Page tackles her role with an apt uncertainty that works well in the early stages allowing her to grow into the Derby Girl she becomes and the smiling faces surrounding her become infectious, not only to Bliss, but to the audience as well. You can understand her interest and it seems like a natural fit for a character we first meet at a beauty pageant where she loses after dying her hair blue on a dare.

Outside of the already mentioned Derby teammates, Bliss's best friend and co-worker is Pash played by Alia Shawkat, probably best known as Maeby from "Arrested Development", and Carlo Alban plays their Oink Joint manager known as Birdman. Birdman and Pash hardly need explaining as their names already do so much for them, but Alia Shawkat plays the perfect sidekick and Alban adds a dose of flair to a scene when needed. However, the male torch carriers on this film are Jimmy Fallon as Derby announcer "Hot Tub" Johnny Rocket and Andrew Wilson carries on the Wilson family name with pride as Razor, the frustrated Hurl Scout coach. It took me waiting to see his name in the credits before I was 100 percent positive he was a Wilson, but once I saw his name I recognized him from his small role as Future Man in Bottle Rocket. Like I said, excellent casting.

For lack of interest in trying to find a more intelligent-sounding word, Whip It is just a fun film. Filled with food fights and the black-and-bruising nature of an unfamiliar sport filled with smiling female faces you can't help but enjoy yourself for the nearly two hour running time. As familiar and stereotypical as the story is, the approach separates it from the pack. Give it a shot and make it a date night movie and you both should come out smiling.