Whip It! Grade: B+ We know Drew Barrymore wears many hats: she’s a recovered addict, a flower child, an actor, a producer and owner of a film company. But now Barrymore is donning a new chapeau — that of a director.
“Whip It!” is Barrymore’s directorial debut, and a striking one at that. Starring “Juno’s” Ellen Page, “Whip It!” is the story of Bliss Cavendar, a teen growing up in a small Texas town surrounded by mothers and daughters obsessed with beauty pageants as she dreams of a different life. After discovering an all-female roller derby tournament not far from town, Bliss falls in love with the sport, even faking her age to enroll with one of the most popular teams, the “Hurl Scouts.”
As Bliss gets better and better, she finds she is slowly finding her place and true passion while simultaneously straining other relationships. She is not only pitted against rival teammate Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis), but also against her own mother (Marcia Gay Harden), Bliss’ biggest supporter and advocate for her to succeed in the pageant world.
“Whip It!” is not necessarily a revolutionary film, but it does not have any trouble standing out in a crowd. It is rare in today’s cinema to find a film that focuses on women without shouting so from a rooftop. While “Whip It!” has “girl power” undertones highlighting Bliss’ struggle to find her place among a bevy of unique women, it never makes the audience feel like they are being preached at; girls are just proud to be girls and happen to kick ass while doing so.
The cast is the best part of Barrymore’s newest flick. While Page has become known for playing young, snarky girls in her films, she approaches Bliss with a different kind of innocence and desire that she has lacked in other roles. Bliss’ own parents, played by Daniel Stern and Marcia Gay Harden, do a fantastic job of playing clichéd parent roles in a unique and relatable way.
The underrated Alia Shawkat hilariously embodies Pash, Bliss’ best friend, accompanying her on all adventures and providing smart-aleck quips but also encouragement along the way. Juliette Lewis plays her rival Iron Maven, seamlessly transitioning from an easy villain to an enemy you can empathize with without changing any major aspects of her character’s personality. Barrymore appears in the film as Smashley Simpson, along with her former “Fever Pitch” co-star Jimmy Fallon, the scene-stealing roller derby referee. Each scene of “Whip It!” is filled with a fantastic cast without seeming like it was made to be a star vehicle. Each actor plays their part well and consciously, perhaps due to the directorial efforts of Barrymore herself.
While the sport of roller derby itself is an unusual one to focus a movie on, all the action scenes are filmed well, and as a result, are very atmospheric without trying to make the sport seem more exciting than it is. Instead, Barrymore let the panning shots of the arena do it itself, showing the speed and brutality of the sport.
While “Whip It!” may be nothing you haven’t seen before, it is a film filled with talent and heart that you’ll want to see again. “Whip It!” hits theaters Oct. 2.
You can reach this staff writer at cmoore@theeagleonline.com.
