Whip It Into Shape!

Rating: 9/10 (12 October 2009)

I saw this movie last week. I still thought it valuable to go back into the pages of the past and share my unequivocal endorsement.
It is a great coming-of-age romance. Ellen Page is entirely endearing as the lead character, Bliss Cavendar, a young woman seeking to escape the life of Texas beauty pageants. Instead, she seeks her freedom in a trip to Austin, where she joins the women's roller derby circuit and is given the ironic sobriquet of "Babe Ruthless." She's an utter cutie, shy and diminutive. In her particular role on the team -- to skate fast and score points -- she excels and blossoms.
Alia Shawkat, as her best friend Pash, plays convincingly as a small-town bright kid, wanting to get away to college. She shares much of a well-scripted subplot with Carlo Alban, who plays "Birdman," the manager of the pig-themed restaurant where they all work.
Ellen, through her experiences at the derby, skates on the edge of youth and maturity, and often crashes into the rails of her life's boundaries.
All the performances are well-done. Juliette Lewis as "Iron Maven" plays a great baddie with a smirk capable of defenestration. Or at least tossing someone out of the roller derby rink. Marcia Gay Harden as the chain-smoking pageant-obsessed mother, and Daniel Stern as the football-addicted father play convincingly as flawed yet sympathetic role models for their daughter. They gradually overcome their initial portrayals as caricatures to become realistic human characters.
Landon Pigg plays the love interest Oliver, a handsome, laid-back rocker in an up-and-coming band. His actual name would have been perfect for the movie's porcine restaurant setting. Indeed, he eventually he does make a soft landing at the restaurant, where he poetically finds his Bliss. The scenes between these two are mostly convincing, but for some reason I felt a reservation about them as a romantic couple. Maybe Landon was a bit too laid back for my tastes. A bit too disconnected. Indeed, the movie doesn't hinge on their romance so much as the derby circuit, and this entire subplot could actually have been cut from the movie and it would not have greatly changed the plot arc. Still, it is well done, and helps to highlight the alteration and maturation of Bliss during the course of the year.
Finally, it must be said Drew Barrymore does an excellent job both on-and-off the screen, as the constantly-brawling character Smashley Simpson and as the director and producer.
The movie has an excellent range of silly to sincere. It swings from drunken romance to suddenly sobering moments and back again with the ease of a well-working ensemble cast. Most notable of all, it looked like everyone on set was having a blast.
Rating: 9 of 10.