Whip It

Review By: Tom Herrmann
TomHerrmann@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A-

After a long career in both acting and producing Drew Barrymore is stepping up to the plate as director in this off-beat rendition of a sports film. After the inconsistent nature of her producing career, with highs of Donnie Darko and lows of Fever Pitch, this was something that could have easily gone either way. With the quirky acting styles of Ellen Page, accompanied by Barrymore herself; as well as a cluster of actor’s you will surely recognize all throughout the film, the film was guarantied to be fun at the very least.

Bliss (Ellen Page) is, as usual for Page, an unconventional individual from the small Texas town Bodeen. With a mother (Marcia Gay Harden) who pushes her to perform in beauty pageants, Bliss has somehow acquired a taste for the counter culture, as well as a lack of confidence. Things begin to change for Bliss after she finds a flyer for a roller derby in Austin. After attending a game she decides to try out for the underdog team, The Hurl Scouts. As a surprise to everyone, she makes the team and begins to perform as a regular player while pretending to take an SAT prep course to avoid the suspicions of her parents.

Even though Ellen Page has taken on yet another role as unconventional character it should be noted that all of her characters are very different types of unconventional. In Smart People she played an overachiever, in Juno she played a sarcastic girl with obscure interests, and in Hard Candy she makes Chris Hansen look like an armature at catching predators. This time her character was especially different because all of her other ones have a certain level of confidence, where Bliss is very unsure of herself and what she wants to do. It is also a more dynamic character because of how she grows and finds her niche.

Page’s performance, as well as the rest of the roller derby cast’s, is unique in this film because they did not have any stunt doubles and would actually be playing a staged game. Somewhat like professional wrestling, there was no competitive aspect to what they were doing, but there was a very physical aspect. One part that stands out as the most outstanding was a scene were Page jumps over a line of several skaters from the opposite team. After being knocked down they were in place for a miniature version of an Evil Knievel stunt. She clears the set of girls and promptly crashes into the barrier in front of her. There was nothing assisting her aside from the weeks of training she went through before the scene and it was al one uncut shot.

It is impressive how they took a sport as far from the mainstream structure of sports, and made it one of the driving forces in this movie. It was just as much fun to watch these girls skate and fight as ...