Drew Barrymore's Whip It

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Whip It (2009)

Drew Barrymore makes her feature directorial debut with "Whip It," an amusing dramedy that ends up being about more than its central focus: the exciting world of roller derby competitions. Now I'll be the first to admit that I didn't even know that this was a sport, complete with its own set of rules and scoring system. If you were unfamiliar with it before, after seeing "Whip It," you'll know exactly how it's played.

Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is a normal teenage girl from the small town of Bodeen, Texas. Her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) forces her to participate in beauty pageants along with her younger sister, Shania (Eulala Scheel). While out buying some shoes, she catches sight of some roller derby girls bringing in some flyers to one of the clerks for an exhibition game. Bliss and her friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) decide to attend the event.

After seeing the game, Bliss comes back for try-outs with the coach, Razor (Andrew Wilson). After showing how fast she can go around the track, Bliss officially becomes a member of the Hurl Scouts (Great name, isn't it?). During her time on the team, she meets a young man, Oliver (Landon Pigg), that she falls in love with and begins dating, all the while lying to her parents, who would never go along with her doing something as dangerous as skating in a derby.

For being her first time directing a feature, Barrymore did a great job with it. A lot of it is standard point and shoot, but during the roller derby scenes, she really shows that she has what it takes to be a good director. Even for the slower scenes, it looks like she put a lot of work into framing everything just right, with excellent results.

Ellen Page returns to the lead role, her first big outing since the smash hit "Juno." One of my concerns for this film was whether or not she was going to be able to break away from the ditsy teen personality that she had created for her role as Juno. Luckily, she is able to create an entirely new character with Bliss (or Babe Ruthless as she's known during game play). Page proves once again that she should be given more leading roles; she has shown that she is more than capable of handling them.

What particularly made this film worth seeing was its interesting blend of humor and drama. There were enough splashes of comedy throughout the film to keep the audience laughing, while at the same time, included a touching story of a young girl trying to come to terms with her life and what she wants to do. The dramatic side was well done and stopped just short of becoming too sappy.

As for the roller derby game itself, we are instructed as to how the game is played by a quick tutorial from the Hurl Scouts' coach. Four players from each team start circling the track on the first whistle, while two other players (one from each team) wait behind them for a second whistle. When the second whistle sounds, those two players must rush through the pack and swing around the track and try to pass as many of the opposing players as they can, scoring one point for each. The team with the highest points after the four quarters wins the bout.

Sadly, it is these scenes of game play at the roller derby that are not very exciting. The game becomes a fast-paced blur that is hard to keep up with, but that's hardly the director's fault. In real life, it looks as though it would still be hard to keep up with who's passing who as players are hit and knocked down. You would think if Martin Campbell can make poker exciting in "Casino Royale" then this should be no problem, but some games are just not that interesting, especially when we're depending on a scoreboard or the announcer (Jimmy Fallon) to tell us what's happening.

But as I said, the movie is about more than its central focus. Watching Bliss weave her way through her tangled web of a life was interesting enough on its own. Plus it became fun to point out the cameos throughout the film, mostly playing characters there to support her along the way. Daniel Stern plays her father, a football fan who never seems to do very much, but is always there for Bliss. Drew Barrymore has a small role as one of the Hurl Scouts, adding a little more humor to the mix. Even Zoe Bell (from Tarantino's "Death Proof") makes an appearance as another member of the team.

The film is partially predictable, but the great performances, particularly from Page, elevate what could have been just another teen drama. The screenplay, by Shauna Cross, based on her book "Derby Girl," has some clichés but is filled with enough snappy dialogue to keep it fresh. Some of it was even strangely reminiscent of "Juno." What we're left with is a film that is a good mix of comedy and drama that becomes surprisingly entertaining given that a large part of it is about roller skating. 3/4 stars.