Review: Whip It
Posted October 2, 2009 12:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Considering she has worked in Hollywood as an actress for over 30 years you’d think the directing bug would have hit Drew Barrymore sooner. You’d also think that after working with greats like Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen she would have learned how to make an interesting movie. Not the case with Whip It – a cutesy roller derby flick that tries too hard to be hip and falls flat in the process.
Bliss (Ellen Page) is a smart, funky small-town 17-year-old girl (basically Juno before she was pregnant) who is forced to participate in beauty pageants by her mother (Marcia Gay Harden). On an afternoon trip to nearby Austin, Texas, she spots an ad for an all-girl roller derby competition. Intrigued, she forces her friend Pash (Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat) to go with her to the event. While at the derby Bliss speaks with some of the girls and gets the idea to try out for the team (even though she is underage). Soon she is pulling out her old Barbie roller skates and practicing, all the while hiding it from her mother and father (played by Daniel Stern). Of course Bliss makes the team and joins Smashley Simpson (Barrymore), Rosa Sparks (Eve), Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) and Bloody Holly (Zoe Bell) on the Hurl Scouts.
Calling herself Babe Ruthless on the track, Bliss becomes a serious player and wows her team and annoys her rivals (specifically Iron Maven, played by a creepy-looking, butched-out Juliette Lewis). As she becomes more of a star she hooks up with a singer in an indie rock band, alienates her friends and upsets her parents. Typical of a movie of this calibre (including the cliche food fight), everything works out in the end.
Before getting into what’s wrong with Whip It, let’s look at what’s good about it. The roller derby scenes are great. They’re shot well (thanks to cinematographer Robert Yeoman, who has worked with director Wes Anderson on most of his films), and really get the roller derby vibe across to the audience. That’s about it. The rest of the film is like Barrymore herself – cute and not that exciting.
The cast all do fine with what they have to work with, I guess (Jimmy Fallon as derby announcer Johnny Rocket was probably his best role since hosting Weekend Update on SNL). But when you have strong talent like Lewis and Page and strip away what makes them such great actresses so they can be “girly”, it gets annoying fast.
Barrymore has made a movie that her fans will like – and no one else will. Hopefully her next attempt will appeal to a wider audience.
** out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
Cast: Ellen Page, Juliette Lewis, Drew Barrymore
Directed by: Drew Barrymore
Official Site IMDb
brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com
ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK: The Invention of Lying, Zombieland, Capitalism: A Love Story, Toy Story 1 & 2 3D Double Feature
Top image: Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page and Kristen Wiig in Whip It. Courtesy Fox Searchlight.
