Whip It

FILM REVIEW : Whip It (2009)

I must admit to having been skeptical about the film, despite wanting to like it. My skepticism was not justifiable, as Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It is nothing short of fantastic.Bliss (Ellen Page) is a seventeen year old girl. She works at a small diner in her hometown of Bodeen, Texast with her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat). She hates the lack of freedom that comes from her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) constantly entering her into beauty pageants. One day, she stumbles upon the world of roller derby and decides to join a team: the Hurl Scouts (Drew Barrymore, Zoe Bell, Eve, Kristen Wiig). Whip It deals with her successes and failures, not only as a member of the Hurl Scouts, but also in her own personal life.

For a multitude of reasons, I was somewhat expecting this film to be Juno 2: Juno Joins a Roller Derby Team. One of those reasons was Ellen Page. As much as I loved her in Juno, the one problem there lies outside of the performance, and that problem is this: it is already her trademark role, and it is difficult to differentiate her from that film role. Well, she plays Bliss perfectly, and the only thing that Bliss and Juno have in common is that they are not stereotypical teenage girls. Bliss has neither the quirky and sassy spark nor the surprisingly strong sense of self-security that Juno had. If she picks her future roles well, she can hopefully go on to be one of Hollywood's next great actresses and ironically separate herself from the lovely role that brought her stardom in the first place.

As I've ranted and raved about Page, I have to say that the other performances in the film were spot-on. The entire cast was practically perfect, and I must credit Barrymore's directing towards this. She knows what these characters are like and proves that she can make a legitimate film... plus how do you NOT love Drew Barrymore?

An extension of about fifteen minutes would have helped the film. Not that there were any plot holes or anything, but we don't get enough of the supporting cast. I know that it's all about Bliss, but it would have been nice to see some more of the other Hurl Scouts, too.

A great film. Ellen Page is fantastic yet again, and Drew Barrymore has given a great start to a hopefully lengthy directing career. The best of the four films I saw today.

Highly recommended

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars (4.5 out of 5 stars)

Photo Courtesy: Hitfix

Julian Stark (pen name)<br />
<br />
Founder/Editor: Movies and Other Things<br />
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http://julianstark-moviesandotherthings.blogspot.com

Last updated: 2010-04-10 07:34:13 by user07

Booze Revooze: A Drinker's Skewed View of WHIP IT

Ramblings: Whip It, Good

Final Proof:  3 1/2 Shots

You know how you get drunk with a bunch of cool girls? They hang out in a group and some are cuter than others and they’re less clean than they are cut and sure they talk too loud but they’re rolling the good times and smoking hot. You drink them in and catch one of those forever buzzes you know will never fade until too soon. Because there’s no way you’re ever gonna get any, the pressure’s off so you can just sit back in the good times and let yourself be carried along by their wave while you catch yourself smiling, practically joking, and you can’t even blame it all on the booze. As young as the night, they’re independent like the rock they play nonstop from the juice box and sometimes they try too hard but that’s part of their charm. They don’t swear right, dance badly, and can’t pull off a fist pump but that’s what gives them the luster of Suicide little girls.  They’re careless but not because they couldn’t care less, they’re just living for the moment and they want you to come along for the ride. If you’re ever lucky enough to get swept along by a bunch of girls like this, hold your breath and keep your eyes wide shut so you don’t wake up from their dream. Whip It is kind of like that.

Drew Barrymore has concocted a finely brewed movie. Like an indie John Hughes flick (though this isn’t as alternative as it tries to be—let’s call it No Alternative), Whip It is a coming of age movie for the grrrls of today. Strong female roles give the movie the kick of a Mike’s Hard Lemonade six pack drunk straight from the bottle.  [A special shout out to Miss Demeanor for her insightful comments about  John Hughes.]

No, it’s not a perfect movie. Like i just said, it tries too hard to be Juno on keg beer and the soundtrack is just a little too perfect to be anything but market studied. And some of the lines fall as flat as one of those English beers they drink warm for no apparent reason other than to show off how odd they are.

But these little flies in the punch bowl don’t get in the way of a good time. The roller derby names alone are enough reason to see the film. (Bliss Cavendar’s derby name is Babe Ruthless and she skates for a team called The Hurl Scouts. Other skaters are known as Jackie Daniels, Iron Maven, Bloody Holly, Rosa Sparks, Smashley Simpson, Juana Beat’n and Jaba the Slut.) Yeah, the whole Roller Derby thing really worked for me.

Whip It will treat you like good beer: not a lot of  sustenance but it’ll get you where you wanna go.

Before things heat up, i gotta card Eulala Scheel who’s only 11. She plays Bliss’s sister, Shania, and is Marcia Gay Harden’s daughter both in the film and real life.

Buzz Kills (Watch Out for Spoilers)

Sex: 3 Shots

i’m being a little generous here because the only sex seen [sick] is in a pool between Bliss ‘Babe  Ruthless’ Cavendar (Ellen Page) and her indie rock boyfriend, Oliver (played by real life indie coffee shop troubadour Landon Pigg). Even there, the only sex that’s seen is Ellen Page undressing to her bra and panties underwater.

Still, there’s enough talent in this movie that y’all are gonna hafta sit back and enjoy the ride ’cause i got a pack of sexy to deal with.

Let’s get this derby rolling with Drew Barrymore. Whip It is her first movie as director and she also gave herself a supporting role as Smashley Simpson.



Apart from the bra and panties in the pool, we also get Ellen Page (22, playing a 17-year-old) undressing to her bra on the street to switch t-shirts with her boyfriend. Plus, if Ellen Page isn’t just as cute as the dickens i don’t know who is— i wanted to reach out and pinch her little cheeks, especially because she spends most of the movie in shorts.

Alia Shawkat (20) plays Pash, Bliss’ best friend. There’s a scene of them sleeping in the same bed which gets up my nose because Ellen Page is sleeping with her bra beneath PJ’s and y’all know how that gets my Grey Goose.

Brooke Cavendar, Bliss’ mom, is portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden who looks great at 50.

As for the skaters, Juliette Lewis (36) is Iron Maven. Juliette Lewis is the coolest with no qualifiers because that would diminish her coolness. She. Is. The. Coolest. Apart from Miss Demeanor, obviously, who is the coolest Ever.


The rest of the skaters…

Rachel Bockheim (31) appears in the movie as Jackie Daniels. She’s also a real life skater for the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was a technical advisor for the flick.

Kristen Wiig (36) is Maggie Mayhem:
Ari Graynor (26) as Eva Destruction:

Eve (31) as Rosa Sparks:

And Zoe Bell (31—the Kiwi stuntwoman Tarantino used in Death Proof) as Bloody Holly:

And, just in case one or two riot grrls stumbled in here, i’m offering up Andrew Wilson (45) who plays the coach, Razor:

and Landon Pigg (26) who plays the love interest:

Drink: 2 Shots

Nothing spectacular but everything looks  better after the Twilight 2: New Moon debacle.

At least in Whip It there’s pitchers of beer being heavily consumed at an after-derby party and one of the skaters in a keg stand (when two people help balance a third doing a headstand on a keg while a fourth partier opens the tap into their mouth–invented by college  students who simultaneously reasoned this position would help alcohol reach the brain faster and frightened me for the future of every ‘civilized’ nation).

There’s also Pash, who’s underage, drinking after a game and who chucks her beer as a cop approaches. She gets busted for drinking, a ‘minor’ offense. Earlier, Pash gets so drunk at another party that she has to stop making out with a guy in the shower so Bliss can encourage her to barf by telling her to imagine her parents having sex, down to her dad’s jiggling ball sack.

Oh yeah, also Bliss catches her dad drinking beer and watching a football game in a van. She asks for a beer, he refuses but tells her she can have a sip of his. She distracts him and chugs the beer in under a minute, belching loudly as she clears out.
That, and the Hurl Scouts spend a lot of downtime hanging out in a bar.

Rock & Roll: 2½ Shots

i already bitched a couple times about how i found this a little too contrived and not enough rock, so i’ll shut up about that.

Boring Technical Crap

Written by: Shauna Cross (book and screenplay)

Directed by: Drew Barrymore

Starring

Ellen Page – Bliss ‘Babe Ruthless’ Cavendar

Alia Shawkat – Pash

Drew Barrymore – Smashley Simpson

Eulala Scheel- Shania Cavendar

Marcia Gay Harden – Brooke Cavendar

Juliette Lewis – Iron Maven

Rachel Bockheim / Jackie Daniels – Jackie Daniels

Kristen Wiig – Maggie Mayhem

Ari Graynor – Eva Destruction

Eve – Rosa Sparks

Zoe Bell – Bloody Holly

Andrew Wilson – Razor

Landon Pigg – Oliver

Bottom Line

See it.

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Al K Hall<br />
Functional Alcoholic Slurperson<br />
(No, REALLY. Google &amp;quot;Slurperson&amp;quot; if you don't believe me.)

Last updated: 2010-03-31 20:14:51 by user08

WHIP IT (Drew Barrymore, 2009)

*** ½

Awkward, but ingratiating. What it lacks in poise it makes up in warmth and plucky actressing.

Last updated: 2010-03-23 08:27:53 by user06

Whip It

Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden
Drama, 2009

Bliss (Page) is a 17 year old reluctant pageant girl in a small town. She stumbles upon a roller derby league, likes what she sees, and tries out. Turns out she's pretty darn good at it but the only problem is that her parents will never approve. She has finally found something that she loves to do for herself and not just to please her mother. As she works on her Roller Derby skills she not only finds her passion but she finds out she's a whole lot tougher then she ever thought.

• This movie bumped around my house for a couple of weeks and I kept putting off watching it in favor of others. I shouldn't have waited so long! This movie was good...and fun to watch.
• Drew Barrymore was the director and she herself had just a small role in the move. I read somewhere that she wanted to be able to identify with the actors and what they were going through on skates so she could direct them better. I think she's done another excellent movie about women. The roller derby girls had heart and character. They were more then just tatted tough girls on skates. I felt like I wanted to know more about them.
• I have liked Page ever since I saw her in her break out role Hard Candy.
• It was great to see Bliss find herself so unexpectedly in roller derby. It may not be a typical pursuit but she loved it. Skating gave her a purpose and something to look forward to beyond the limiting barriers her small podunk town.
• It made me want to go roller skating again despite the fact that I have not thought about nor wanted to roller skate in a long time. I am hoping there is still a place in my city where I can do it!

5 Stars

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Just Me

whip it

whip it good.  whip it real good.

this movie is freaking awesome!  whodathunk drew barrymore could pull off a directorial debut like this?  it’s really good.  it’s got all the things that make those really memorable and touching coming of age films memorable and touching.

first of all, who doesn’t want to see babes in fishnets roller skating and kicking each others asses?  throw in an awkward young teenage girl, played here masterfully by ellen page, a foil straight out of one of those john cusack 80’s films, (played here by the still smoking hot juliette lewis), an over bearing, beauty pageant pushing mother  and BAM!  you got the best film of the second half of summer.  or the best film of the fall so far.  either way, you don’t want to miss this one.

seriously, my vocabulary is too thin to shower this film with all the superlatives i think it deserves.  it’s fresh, witty, heart warming, smart, funny.  it’s everything you could want in a friday night date movie.  if drew barrymore can be this selective with the films she directs, and leave you feeling this good when it’s over, she’ll have a long and successful career as director.  in 20 years people will think of her as director instead of whatever pops into your mind when you think of drew barrymore now.

i only wish this movie had j.k. simmons in it.  not really, i just love that dude.  daniel stern plays the dad and he’s really good.  it took me until the credits to realize who he was.  where ya been daniel stern?  waiting for city slickers 3?  it’s good to see ya.

this film is a must have.  i’ll be picking this one up on dvd for sure.  it’s a full price purchase probably the weekend it’s released.

i must say i was a little disappointed the song whip it by devo wasn’t in the film.  i mean, really?  i’m glad this film was really good and left me feeling good about myself or i would be really pissed whip it wasn’t in there.  but as it is, only a little disappointed.

Cal Reed

Super Marcey's Whip It Review

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Recommendations: Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009), Milk, Hurt Locker, The (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009)

Last updated: 2010-03-02 00:08:46 by SuperMarcey

Whip It

     I got to see "Whip It" nearly a week early as it opened this Saturday in limited theaters for a sneak preview.  (I got a free t-shirt too!)  The drive was definitely worth it.  
 
     "Whip It" mixes just the right amount of humor, emotion, and self discovery into a uniquely Texas coming of age tale.  Ellen Page, who has an incredible amount of talent for one so young, brings her usual stellar performance as Bliss Cavendar, an 17 year old girl from a small (one stop light kind of small) Texas town who is being forced by her, well meaning, mother, played by Marcia Gay Harden, who does a prefect performance of an obsessive, small town, Texas mother, to participate in beauty pageant after beauty pageant, in an attempt to give her daughter the advantages she never had growing up.  Younger sister, Shania, played by relative newcomer Eulala Scheel, seems to love the pageant life.  Not so for Bliss.  She hates it and longs for something outside of small town life.  Her chance comes during a shopping trip to Austin where she picks up a flyer for TXRD, Texas Roller Derby.  From there, a shy, reserved young girl lies to her parents about where she is going at night, lies about her age to get into the league, and discovers something she truly loves, or, at least, loves more than working as a waitress at a small town BBQ joint.  Daniel Stern plays the father.  He's also very typical small town Texas.  He is a bit overwhelmed by a family of beauty pageant girls.  He has to sneak out to his van to watch football and looks enviously at the high school football signs other fathers put in their yards for their sons.  Additional star power is brought by Jimmy Fallon, who actually does a good job as TXRD announcer 'Hot Tub' Johnny Rocket, Kristen Wiig, also brings a great performance as Maggie Mayhem, player for the fictional TXRD team, the Hurl Scouts, Juliette Lewis, who does an incredible job as chief rival Iron Maven, player for the number one TXRD team, the Holy Rollers, Andrew Wilson, who is truly the most under rated Wilson brother, playing the beach bum-esque Hurl Scouts coach to perfection, (his performance is far more believable and authentic than anything brother Owen could ever pull off) and, of course, let us not forget, first time director, Drew Barrymore, who not only shines in her directorial debut, but also does a great job as Hurl Scouts player Smashley Simpson. 
 
     (Ok, time out for a second.  If case some of that confused you, let me give you a (very) quick explanation of Roller Derby culture.  Roller Derby is a contact sport, played by women on skates, who try to pass each other on a track for points.  The players and teams usually have, let's say, colorful names.  Actual TXRD team names include the Holy Rollers, the Hellcats, and the Putas del Fuego.  Anyway, you really don't need to know anything about Roller Derby before seeing this movie.  It'll be very obvious or they'll fill you in along the way.  Anyway, back to the movie.) 
 
     "Whip It" is simultaneously a inspirational tale of a young girl finding her own path in life, a underdog sports flick about a team who started at last and fought hard to be on top, and an incredibly funny, true to life comedy, full of characters we see every day (especially if you live in or near Central Texas) and can actually relate to.

Brian
Ciné Critique Américain

Redefines The Term Chick Flick - And I Mean That.

In a sense this is a 6 or 7: a kind of kookie inspirational sports movie - fun, energetic, easy to watch and easy to like.

However it gets a 9 because I cannot recall any film that truly takes the conventions that male cinema does so well and wholesale translate them to something that girls will love.

This film isn't sappy but it isn't about masculine heroism - it is about women having a great time being truly what they are - not 1950 prissies, but punky, spikey, ironic, sexy and just plain fun.

Whip It has great roller derby sequences but more than that and more than most male sports movies we get to see the personalities of those involved and they shine.

Drew Barrymore knows films - she's being doing it all her life - and this may look lightweight and simple, but the way the camera tells the story is excellent - it is all well-composed and supported by a tip-top script and a great cast. The romantic interest is too good-looking (of course) and above all this is a film that will hit the target with girls and women - but I promise you guys will really like it too.

Almost impossible not to enjoy we loved its free spirit and would recommend it heartily to teenage girls as a film about doing your thing and being strong.

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Vincent Snavely