Whip It
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Zoe Bell, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Ellen Page, Alia Shawkat
Director: Drew Barrymore
WorkNameSort: Whip It
Our Rating: 5.00
At the movies, Drew Barrymore has always excelled at keeping secrets ‘ E.T. in the closet, a certain pyrokinetic ability, Adam Sandler’s ability to love ‘ but Whip It may be her best-kept secret yet. It turns out she can make a hell of a film.
With virtually no fanfare and against cynical critics expecting Juno Redux, Whip It is an emotionally honest feminist switcheroo with an endearingly gawky sense of humor and a delicate mother-daughter teen tale all wrapped up in genuinely exciting derby sequences that put Rollerball to shame.
Ellen Page stars as Bliss, a small-town tomboy working as a waitress, who, with her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat, emerging from her Arrested Development funk ‘ Fünke? ‘ as a beautiful young woman), discovers the pugilistic joy of roller derby. After a practice montage, Bliss is ready to play and quickly emerges as a ‘poster childâ?� for the vaguely illegal sport. She’s given the empowered moniker ‘Babe Ruthless.â?�
Because the league plays a bus ride away in Austin, Texas, Bliss and Pash naturally fall for the nearest hipster musicians. In Barrymore’s first role-reversal trick, she subtly points out that the girls are the hard-partying, quick-to-fight, blood-spitting dominators in their relationships, while the guys, with their skinny jeans, expensive haircuts and feminized gaits, are relegated to cheerleader status.
Off the rink, Bliss goes along with her mother’s (a wonderful Marcia Gay Harden, avoiding caricature) beauty pageant kick, playing dress-up and giving pat answers to questions like ‘Who would you most like to have dinner with?â?� to avoid hurting her mother’s feelings. Bliss’ father, the lone male of the house, is secretly out of work and keeps a stoic face on even when his neighbor posts signs in his yard proclaiming his two sons’ great football heroics. Bliss keeps his secrets without a thought and indulges him by feigning interest in whatever NFL game is on TV.
As a character, Bliss couldn’t be farther away from Juno. She has good taste in music but doesn’t wear it as a badge. She loses her virginity in a magical underwater sequence, a gift of a moment that most girls her age would kill to have, but she never waves it in Pash’s face. She speaks and plays from the heart, and she’s got a tough one.
Whip It is adapted by Shauna ‘Maggie Mayhemâ?� Cross from her own novel, Derby Girl, which is grounded in her own experiences with the sport. But the star of the film is Barrymore, who also has a supporting role as Smashley Simpson, the peppy girl who takes the hardest hits. Behind the camera, she stocks Whip It with surprising-yet-powerful players: Juliette Lewis, as the villain, is born to play a badass, and Andrew Wilson can steal a scene with the smallest gestures. Barrymore nails the big derby action with clarity and the intimate moments with precision, elevating an already captivating story to a deeply human level.
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2009.