Director: Drew Barrymore
Starring: Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig & Drew Barrymore
Enjoyable even though the plot and themes often feel too familiar, Whip It is an enjoyable directorial debut from Drew Barrymore.
Having already been seen on screen promoting girl power in films with mixed success (see the Charlie’s Angels films); actress Drew Barrymore has turned her eye towards directing a film of her own. Adapting the novel Derby Girl, Whip It is fortunately much better than might be expected and while it’s tale of a girl trying to find her own individuality, her own voice through a niche activity might seem familiar and the lead role played by Ellen Page also feeling somewhat familiar to roles Page has played before, Whip It is still quite enjoyable.
Tired of entering beauty pageant after beauty pageant at the behest of her mother and with uncertainty over her future living in a small town, Bliss Cavendar (Page) happens across a group of girls while out on a shopping trip that a part of a local roller derby team who revel in ignoring more common expectations upon what they should be and are out to have fun and do their own thing, that being the small and relatively forgotten sport of roller derby. Feeling inspired by these girls, one of them named Maggie Mayhem (Wiig) tells Bliss to be her own hero, inspire herself and Bliss takes the chance to join the team even though it means keeping it secret from her family. Of course Bliss soon realises that roller derby is not a sport for the uncertain and Bliss must find her own confidence and strength to compete which then also influences her confidence in other aspects of her life.
Whilst generally a female orientated film in its largely female cast and heroines, messages of girl power and striving to break free of old gender expectations and making your life your own, Whip It could easily appeal to audiences of either gender when it comes to finding your own individuality. While the manner in which the film goes about having Bliss find herself through a sport is something that has been seen before (see Bend It Like Beckham) it is nevertheless handled quite well by Drew Barrymore making her directorial debut. Barrymore tackles the theme quite maturely yet also knows to keep humour present to make Bliss’ journey a worthwhile one. The film is also largely about bonding too with Bliss building relationships with similar misfits tired of the expectations they’ve been expected to withhold to and the interaction of the team is often fun with their joy in being the number two team and lack or real care at being a success. The team being in it for the fun makes them more endearing even though the added support this might generate within the audience still builds up towards a climax that doesn’t cheat the characters but is, yet again, something that has been seen before.
The cast in Whip It are generally quite enjoyable. Most of the cast play familiar personalities but are still enjoyable regardless. Ellen Page makes a likeable lead in Bliss, less sharp and witty than the character she played in Juno, Page still plays a character with a similar disregard for conforming to expectation yet Bliss and Page’s performance is generally sweeter and more likeable overall. Daniel Stern and Marcia Gay Harden are enjoyable as Bliss’ parents with Harden at first playing a role that might recall association with more steely, uptight roles in the past but soon finds it being tempered with warmth and concern. The Hurl Scouts, the roller derby team which Bliss joins, are memorably cast with sporty and/or comedic actresses like Zoe Bell (Death Proof), Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore herself and Juliette Lewis as the bitch Iron Maven who switches teams and turns against them.
Whip It doesn’t really add much new to the sports genre or films dealing in empowerment and finding one’s individuality but it is still quite enjoyable with plenty of good humour and a likeable cast and makes for a decent debut from Drew Barrymore as a filmmaker.
Rating: 3/5
