Review #14: Whip It

Whip It

Release Date: October 2nd, 2009
Writer: Shauna Cross
Director: Drew Barrymore

Logline: In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin. (Source IMDb)
Sports, Comedy, Drama. 111 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.

Review
This should not be a good movie. By all accounts, it should be forgettable, disposable, and cliche. But 5 years after its release, I still kind of love it.

Whip It has some good summer popcorn staples to give it legs. Ellen Page was fresh off of Juno, the roller derby fad was just blowing up, the soundtrack is killer, but there's some extra magic in this movie that makes me love it.

First and foremost, the cast is outstanding. Ellen Page, playing Bliss, is just so damn talented. The rest of the cast is really filled out by secondary characters who are extremely well written. It's a big red flag of lazy writing to make minor characters who get the story moving, to have no personality whatsoever, and yet it happens all the time. Rounding out the cast is the vicious Juliette Lewis, the saccharine Marcia Gay Harden, the hysterical Alia Shawkat, and the lovable 'Hot Tub Johnny' Jimmy Fallon. Notice that all of those characters have a defined character? That's so important in making a movie memorable. Giving all the derby girls a reason to be there, and complicated lives and personalities makes them fun and real.

Second, don't you just love a good sisterhood moment? Girls are sort of taught not to play on teams, not to trust each other, and that's not fair. Whip It has Bliss finding herself within a team of women. She's not individual who rises above, she gets the support of her girls. You know what I love even more? She doesn't limit herself to the identity of being someones girlfriend. I can't think of another female lead movie where her relationship was NOT the most important thing in her life.

Finally, the relationship Bliss has with her Mom is portrayed spectacularly. Who doesn't have a relationship like that with their Mom? At some point the overbearing good intentions of Bliss's Mom becomes that direct motivation to rebel. Something often botched in coming of age films. More importantly, however, is how that relationship grows and changes. I love the scene when Bliss talks to her Mom about her boyfriend. It breaks my heart. So many films show kids rebelling and abandoning their parents reign, and they find nothing but boundless success after without ever needing to reconcile those two worlds. I have so much appreciation for the fact that Bliss remained tied to her parents in this movie, it's realistic and genuine.

This might be a flat movie for some people, it's predictable and a little cheesy at times. It's certainly not going to win any awards, but it's a ton of fun. It's one of my favorite feel-good movies. Did I mention the soundtrack is killer?

Portrayal of Women: Can the badass ladies of Roller Derby get any better? It's not just the women, all the characters. They're textured, they're real, they exist beyond the stereotype. I want to be on a Derby team with Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell, and Eve.

Sisterhood Moment: Bliss and Pash hanging out in the diner, singing and dancing to Jolene (more specifically, their own version called Bodeen). I'm pretty sure every girl in American has sang Jolene at some point. Dolly Parton is a force of nature.

Rating: Two packs of twizzlers.

IMDb - Whip It (6.1)
Wikipedia - Whip It
Rotten Tomatoes - Whip It (84%)