Fun to make, mostly pleasant to watch

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2009)

It seemed that the cast was having a great time making this film, and I enjoyed it. The film recycled quite a number of themes from earlier films (otherwise known as clichés). A child entering a profession which a parent will find hateful? You can find a source as far back as silent film. Plus escape from a small town, disappointment in first love, losing local sports team turning things around.
Maybe the novel made all of this fresh and vibrant. I don't care. I enjoyed watching this film, despite the lack of fresh insights or new situations.
Ellen Page continues to delight. This performance is not much of a contrast from Juno, but I think: why shouldn't she do as many troubled/wacky juvenile roles while she still can? She can play Lady Macbeth later.
Marcia Gay Harden seemed to be a bit over the top. She is an excellent actress, and I am afraid that the director's inexperience allowed her to settle for stereotype rather than the creation of an actual individual. She was good, but could have been so much better.
Pash and Birdman were very pleasant and amiable, but never really became interesting. Oliver, the first love, was a total blank. No advance indication of his true feelings, and no later confirmation. So that swimming pool scene was not love, just foreplay? My opinion of Oliver is based upon what I have been told to believe, not on what I have seen.
Coach Razor (Andrew Wilson) was fascinating. Here is a real person rather than a stereotype. What was his sexuality? Straight? Gay? Undecided? It doesn't matter at all to the plot, and my fascination is probably due to the lack of stereotype being used here.
"Iron Maven," the antagonist. I did not review the cast list prior to watching the film. During the course of the film, there was a reference to "she-males" being the Derby stars. At a point in the film, I actually believed that "Iron Maven" was a transsexual with perhaps a dubbed-in voice. Yikes! It's Juliette Lewis! Doing a fine job.
And that's the irony of this film: the director, Drew Barrymore, started as a child actor and became a director with this film. Juliette Lewis (who has a monologue about age and accomplishments) also began when she was a child and her major accomplishments were a number of years ago. And the star is Ellen Page, whose current fame is her ability portray adolescence. Time, time, time, see what's become of me.
This film will exit the theaters very soon. I think it will be a worthwhile rental, or PPV choice. It has its shortcomings, relying too frequently on stereotypes; but I liked it a lot, and maybe you will, too.