TIFF Review: Whip It
Whip It
Directed by Drew Barrymore
Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Eve, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Stern, and Zoe Bell
Whip It stars Ellen Page as Bliss, a bored Texas teenager who feels the need to escape her small hometown, her meaningless waitress job and the beauty pageants that her mother wishes she would take more seriously. On a shopping trip to nearby Austin, Bliss spots some roller derby girls delivering flyers for their upcoming games. The derby girls are covered in tattoos and piercings. They wear short skits, high socks (oh yeah) or fishnets. Bliss likes the style, grabs a flyer and heads home.
With her best friend in tow, Bliss heads to the game and is introduced to a hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners sport for women. She meets some players Smashlee Simpson (Barrymore), Rosa Sparks (Eve), Iron Maven (Lewis), Bloody Holly (Bell) and Maggie Mayhem (Wiig), who invites Bliss to try out for the team next week. Bliss makes the Hurl Scouts team and begins attending practices and games all the while keeping it from her debutante mother (Harden) and oafy father (Stern).
There’s a very weak subplot involving a boy in a band that seems more like filler than storyline. Page has zero chemistry with the actor playing her love interest, there’s no payoff and honestly, I felt a little cheated watching scenes with this because it took away from more roller derby action.
Clearly, the roller derby scenes are the best part with actors doing their own stunts and the scenes were choreographed well. Like a good sports movie, the games are intense, yet because it’s a comedy, still a little light-hearted. Speaking of sports movies, I knew I was going to get a training/music montage scene and did we ever. Speed skating drills, sit-ups, jumps and spins all to the tune of 38 Special’s “Caught Up in You”. That was awesome. The roller derby is really the only reason to see this film. Most of the other scenes fall kind of flat as much of the dialogue is hokey and predictable.
When I first saw the trailer for Whip It, I was interested, not only because of the roller derby, but because I wanted to see if Drew Barrymore had any directing chops. Coming from the family lineage that she does, I expected maybe she had some talents other than acting. She’s not the greatest actor, by all means, but for the most part she’s passable. After watching the movie, I realize that Drew Barrymore’s directing is pretty much like her acting. It’s just….there. — Greg
Comments (13)
Any Devo in the movie?
Posted by Nick D on September 18th, 2009I’m curious to see who this film appeals to. Roller Derby seems so out there for today’s myspace teens.
Posted by Marc on September 18th, 20092 star’s REALY? Two? What?, Are you kidding? Fuck me man,Greg your my new number 4!your behind Reed in more way’s than one.
Posted by jaime on September 18th, 2009@Jaime: Have you seen the movie?
Posted by Greg on September 18th, 2009No, i’ll never see it Brother.
Posted by jaime on September 19th, 2009What does that even mean?
Posted by Nick D on September 19th, 2009Well “nick d” it mean’s i’ll never see this freak’in movie and i Fucked your mother!.
Posted by jaime on September 20th, 2009douche
Posted by Niklas on September 20th, 2009You got me bro.
Posted by Nick D on September 20th, 2009This movie review has no place for your shenanigans.
On the other hand, the back and forth dialogue here was hands down better than some of the dialogue in the movie itself.
Posted by Greg on September 20th, 2009I haven’t seen the movie yet, but this basically described how I would feel about it if I did see it. If I do, I’ll be back to compare and most likely agree wholeheartedly.
And Jaime, what the fuck is up with your douchebaggery?
Don’t knock the review if you don’t plan on seeing the movie anyway. Not only does it make you seem like a ignoramus, but it proves it as well.
Posted by natalie on September 25th, 2009I really enjoyed the film – not only was it a lot of fun, but it had some heart, too. I think this is one of those movies that will slowly develop a cult following, regardless of its performance at the box office.
The presence of Ellen Page + the soundtrack + the silly premise got me interested in checking out Whip It, and it exceeded expectations. Juliette Lewis was amazing, and surprisingly, Kristen Wiig was also excellent, straying from her annoying nervous character that she always seems to do.
Still, the highlight of the film for me is the music, especially since Drew Barrymore used “Unattainable” by Little Joy – that was my favorite song of 2008, and it was great to hear it (along with a host of other great songs) get more exposure.
Posted by darci on October 13th, 2009Not sure what you were expecting Greg but I think you are seriously over-reacting. From the sound of it, you went just to see roller-derby footage… if that’s the case, just download it and move on. The film worked just fine thank you very much as witnessed by the applause of the audience at the screener I attended the week before it released. The dialog was exactly what I expected from a movie of this type and had most of the theater laughing out loud at many points. Finally, I think that Drew did an excellent job directing. Just because you personally don’t like what someone does or how they do it, doesn’t mean they aren’t doing it well. Maybe you should try to understand what’s actually going on on the screen instead of trying to make it fit your expectations. I suspect you’d enjoy movies a lot more if you could manage that. Cheers.
Posted by Winston on November 3rd, 2009Leave a Reply