spunky little movie about doing what makes you happy

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2010)

Drew Barrymore has been acting in movies for a very long time, producing for about half that time, and here she makes her first film as director. How personal a project it was to her I can't say (haven't read or seen too many interviews, and it's based on a book by a real-life roller derby player). But one can speculate that Barrymore, as a free-spirit who's had her ups and big downs in her life (mostly the latter when she was much younger, too young in fact), connected with Bliss' attempt to be happy doing something she wants to do, that she feared her parents would disapprove of, and that Bliss finds another family of friends in the girls playing as the Puke Scouts. Certainly there is one thing at least: she's made a 'Hell yeah' movie for girls, or just anyone, saying that you should do what you like, as long as it's not too illegal and you don't get hurt too badly.
And sure, Whip It has its share of clichés. I imagine Barrymore wanted to be very careful with her first script, make sure she hit all the right beats- or just the expected ones- so she could let her actors have some fun. That is really where the film rests for the most part, outside of its premise being out of the ordinary (when was the last time we saw a Roller Derby movie, a good one, and not a documentary). She makes a very good bet on having Elle Page star who is small- at one point a character even refers to her as 'munchkin'- but has a lot of energy and heart and subtlety that she pours into Bliss. The character shouldn't be anything special, being a sort of typical rebellious seventeen year old searching for something that she can do well, on her own, but Page adds some charm and urgency to the performance, and gives it her all in those Roller Derby scenes darting always to the front of the pack.
And sure, again, some scenes are just outright silly. There's one in particular that might stick in your craw where Bliss and the boy she's pining for, a less than honorable dude in a indie rock band, jump in an indoor pool in the middle of the night and stay under water for what seems like a full five minutes before they emerge with (some) clothes still on. And we can tell what might happen by the end, save for the outcome of the Championship game, which is thankfully unpredictable.
But even if the story is just OK, again, Barrymore proves herself as a very fine actor's director, bringing out some excellent work from her fellow Derby players (Zoe Bell, Kristin Wiig, rival player Juliette Lewis in her best role in years), and Bliss' parents, Marcia Gay Harden and the criminally underrated Daniel Stern (great to see him getting work again). Oh, and Andrew Wilson as the coach hits it out of the park, in a performance that fully distinguishes himself from his brothers Owen and Luke. Only Jimmy Fallon feels kind of like the weak link here, if still amiable and amusing.
All in all, if you have to see one roller derby girl flick (not 'chick flick', it's not that sappy or formulaic) set in Texas and featuring lighthearted spoofs on beauty pageants and very small-town diners that have 3-minute slop-eating contests, this is the one for now. It's a semi-auspicious debut.