Finlay plate photograph of Merrily Nute taken by Eric Matson in Talas, Turkey, 1935
An article in this weekend's Parade magazine informed me that Drew Barrymore's production company Flower Films has produced ten films since 1999 - I also read an interesting article in there about how TV ads are too loud, and apparently Peter Saarsgard is half of a show-biz power couple that is breaking all the rules! But the point is that Flower Films is going out on a limb in producing a film by a first-time director with a checkered past - luckily, that director's name is Drew Barrymore. From what I've heard, Whip It has been a personal labor of love for Barrymore, and the result is a clumsy but lovable movie that benefits from a good script and a high-quality ensemble cast.
At the center of this ensemble is Ellen Page, who delivers a quirky but grounded performance that splits the difference between her much-lauded performance in Hard Candy and her ... lets say, more casual approach in Juno. Page plays Bliss, a teen from small-town Texas whose middle-class parents split their time between college football and beauty pageants. It is painfully obvious from the start that Bliss is not cut out for pageant culture, and she is looking for something to care about. On a shopping trip to Austin, she encounters some girls from an underground roller-derby league and is instantly smitten with the idea of full-contact skating. With the help of her BFF, Pash (Alia Shawkat), Bliss deceives her parents and begins a secret life as a "jammer" with the Austin league's last-place Hurl Scouts.
I like a lot of things about Whip It, but the actual roller derby sequences are not highlights for me - the rules of the game are briefly explained in an early scene, but the actual action of the skating is not presented in a "sports film" way that gives any insight into actual strategy or flow of the game. But this is not a disaster, though, because this isn't really a sports film - it's a coming-of-age movie where roller derby is the catalyst for change. Bliss learns about her relationships with friends and family as she comes into her own as a "derby doll", and she also falls into a romance with garage-rocker Oliver (Landon Pigg). Pigg is a problem for me because he looks like a cross between Ashton Kutcher and Patti Smith - he's vacuous and "model" pretty, and this runs counter to much of the film's aesthetic. My only other issue with the movie is the use of indie-rock songs to soundtrack its big scenes - sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I liked the use of tracks by the Go! Team in the skating sequences, but I speak as a Jens Lekman fan when I say that this movie had too much Jens Lekman balladry in it. At some point, you cross a line, and the indie music is just distracting - a scene with dialogue about a "great" LP by Little Joy (a side-project of the Strokes, headed by Barrymore's former boyfriend Fab Moretti) definitely crossed this line.
I am a reluctant fan of Whip It, but my complaints above seem pretty petty when I read them back to myself. And the cast was pretty good all the way around. In particular, Marcia Gay Harden is great as Bliss's mom - she's the "heavy" in the movie, but her performance is pretty sympathetic. She's a mail carrier by day, and pageants represent a lot to her about her childhood and regrets, but she's also an engaged parent who will take her daughter to some pretty "punk" stores for shoe-shopping. Daniel Stern gets a couple good scenes as Bliss's dad, and the always-lovable Kristen Wiig is great as the team "mom" of the Hurl Scouts who takes Bliss under her wing.
The story's arc is not unpredictable, but it is satisfying in how it doesn't treat its protagonist with kid gloves. A couple sequences are very memorable - Barrymore may have some real potential as a director - but she needs to control her twee impulses and focus on maintaining a good narrative momentum. Whip It is a good first effort, though, and benefits from good casting choices and a smart script. I'm pretty easy to please, generally, but I can be as reactionary as the next guy when it comes to hipster-friendly romantic comedy - see my comments on the execrable 500 Days of Summer for proof of this. But I'll admit that Whip It had the charm to knock me off my skates.
"Rollerskate" by Call & Response
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