My Review: Whip It (8/10)

¨The last time I wore skates, they had Barbies on them.¨

The last time I watched a movie about skating was probably when Emilio Estevez was coaching the Ducks, and that was perhaps the last time I wore my skates as well. No matter how long it has been, this movie will leave you wanting to go out and skate all over again. Whip It is Drew Barrymore`s directorial debut and she has crafted a very original and fun movie mixing sports with family drama. It also has to do with searching for what you enjoy in life and following your dreams. All familiar subjects in movies, but that combine very well with a sport most of us have never heard of: Roller Derby, which gives this a unique and original look. This film is actually better than most other movies Drew Barrymore has acted in. Shauna Cross wrote the novel and screenplay for this movie and it is actually based on her life since she was a former roller derby skater for the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. Most of the characters in this film are actually real life skaters, Cross`s alter ego name in the rink was Maggie Mayhem which is a character in this film. Other characters based on real life derby skaters were Iron Maven and Krissy Krash, who actually have a role in this film as the Monson sisters. The coach of the Dolls was also based on a real life Skate coach named Brian Gallagher although his name is changed to Razor in the movie. Before this movie, I had no idea that roller derby was a sport, but after seeing it I discovered a new favorite sport of mine.

The film takes place in a small town in Texas named Booden where Bliss (Ellen Page from Juno) lives with her parents Earl (Daniel Stern from the Home Alone movies) who is a huge sports fan and Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden from Mystic River) who is very feminist and loves beauty pageants. Bliss is tired of life in this small town and is always forced by her mother to participate in Beauty Pageants along with her little sister who enjoys it much more than she does. Bliss feels misfit in this place and the only person who understands her is her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat from the Arrested Development series) who also dreams of getting out of Booden. They work together as waitresses in a small restaurant where most of the clients are old people who are driving by. One day Bliss`s life will change when she goes shopping to Austin and runs into three girls who leave some flyers about a roller derby tournament in the store. Bliss picks one up and is immediately drawn to the event and she forces Pash to come along with her without letting her parents know what they are up to. Once they return to Austin, Bliss is introduced to the Derby world where an exhibition from the players takes place and we are introduced to the game. Here Bliss meets some of the players such as Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis from Natural Born Killers), Rosa Sparks (Eve from The Barbershop), Bloody Holly (Zoe Bell a famous stunt double), Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig from Adventureland and SNL), and Smashley Simpson (Drew Barrymore). They invite Bliss to come back for tryouts and she discovers her new passion. She meets the team`s coach, Razor (Andrew Wilson, Owen and Luke`s older brother) who is very passionate about the sport and he decides to include her in the squad. Bliss finds true happiness in this new world where she makes new friends and even falls in love with a young rocker named Oliver (Landon Pigg). Bliss will have to learn how to keep this new life a secret from her parents because she knows they won`t approve it. Jimmy Fallon also has a supporting role in this film as the Derby commentator Johnny Rocket and is very funny in this movie as well.

I really enjoyed this movie and was entertained from the very beginning to the final credits. I really love Ellen Page and think she is one of the best young actresses in the industry. She is great in this movie once again and she counted with a very talented cast as well. Andrew Wilson, Jimmy Fallon, and Daniel Stern were extremely funny. Julliete Lewis is such a great actress and she is really one of the surprises of this movie. It has been a while since I`ve seen her have a good role and I hope this movie helps her get better offers because she is extremely talented. Kristen Wiig is also great and she stands out once again like she did in Adventureland. She is perhaps one of the funniest actresses to come out of SNL in recent years. Whip It combines comedy with drama very well and I wish more people had a chance to watch this movie. I agree that it is very formulaic, but the Roller Derby brings something new to the film that we haven`t seen before. I have to congratulate Drew Barrymore because she did a great job with the direction of this, her first feature film as a director. Whip It is a lot of fun and I recommend this movie!