Thoroughly entertaining!

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2010)

Who thinks Drew Barrymore could direct a film? I used to ask that question to my cinephile friends and the room would fall under a sepulchral silence, complete with the chirping cricket in the background. I mean, some people are simply BORN to be type-casted into their roles...like Drew Barrymore usually is- you know, the cute, cuddly girl with the wide smile, inviting eyes and somewhat childish personality. She's always being the character who begs to be hugged. What it boils down to (and this is the answer I used to provide to my own question) is that Drew Barrymore can act acceptably well but could never direct so much as a Care Bear commercial, because she just wasn't born for it.
Well, yeah, I was wrong... After seeing her directorial debut "Whip It" I found myself choking on my own question. I mean, sure, it's not an incredibly good movie, but it is far more exceptional and intelligent than the mediocre crap Hollywood dishes out nowadays and contains a few scenes that I just KNOW I won't forget. Now, for your information, this film isn't about cute and cuddly creatures or a flower-hearted, martial-arts bounty hunter employed by a sultry man named Charlie. It's actually about womens' roller skating derby and the thrill that it is. I know, it's SO un-Drew-Barrymore-ish but that's where the wonder comes from...it's not expected and the surprise you get is a really good one.
So! The movie follows Bliss Cavendar, a seventeen year old girl from a small town few people have heard of in Texas. The role is played by the incomparable Ellen Page, whom I've learned to respect and admire after her miraculously flawless work in "Juno" and "Hard Candy". Here, she plays a milder version of her "Juno" character (the same rock-hard personality but will less sass and irony), a girl who's being smothered by her mother (played to comical perfection by Marcia Gay Harden). She's the weird kid who walks around in dark attire, wears unappealing glasses, has only one friend in the world and is THE rebel and free-thinker against a town of retreads who strive to keep an image of 1950's Southern perfection amidst their sexually active, brain-dead teens. Her mother forces her to go to these Blue Ribbon contests where she's to demonstrate what a prim, perfect belle she is. (The other contestants are all dressed in demure, charming gowns and praise the Lord and their deceased ancestors; Bliss appears with spiky, blue hair and praises Amelia Earhart among a disgustingly shocked audience. Yeah, it's THAT kind of town) One day, Bliss sees some derby girls handing out flyers at the mall in Austin, and finds herself awakened to her true calling: skating with the roller-skating derby girls. Now, the derby is a new sport for me, we don't have that where I come from. At least it WAS new for me before watching the film. Bliss escapes to Austin to watch the derby, falls in love with it, signs up for practice with the derby girls and ends up being one of them on account of her blinding speed and her capacity for taking hits without complaining (the roller coaster derby is a brutal sport, you know? It's all about skating fast, blocking people and kicking and slamming them until they've got huge bruises, a hemorrhage or a broken bone).
In plot, it's your typical sports film where the main character is a teenager who's unhappy with the society and family she lives in (though Bliss' family is actually an exemplary one; her mother is just too overprotective and demanding), engages herself in the sport, gains nationwide attention, falls in love with a cute guy, strives to find the recognition of her family, etc... It has the necessary plot twist where everything goes wrong in her life, but then (through a clichéd make-up with her team members, family, best friend, etc.) everything is right again and it all ends in a big match.
The good thing here is the way the movie is crafted. The dialogue is amazingly good and it sounds as real as it gets; while the plot is clichéd and flawed beyond repair, the dialogue is a breath of fresh air that softens the rank odor of the plot. The performances are very good, indeed, and there are those moments I mentioned above which you just can't get out of your head. There's Marcia Gay Harden, naively admiring the "lovely vases" in a store, when they're actually bongs. There's a musical interlude, where Page and her love interest dive into a pool and kiss underwater in a family-friendly sex scene. And there's the scene where Bliss is receiving some advice by the derby team leader Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig), which is poignant in its simplicity and powerful in its directness.
Talking about Maggie Mayhem, aren't those names the derby girls get simply hilarious? I mean, Bliss' team members are called Smashley Simpson, Rosa Sparks, Bloody Holly, Eva Destruction, etc. I read in Roger Ebert's review that it's quite usual for derby racers to choose witty pseudonyms such as this, and I can fully believe; the film IS based on Shauna Cross' novel, after all, and SHE was a derby racer back in the day. Also, most of these wittily-named characters are mostly played by real derby racers, and it makes up into a sports-accurate film.
Is there a flaw? There are many! For some reason, the dialogue and the performances are the only good things about the movie- its saving graces. Whenever there's no dialogue the film seems to lag and to lose its point. Also, like I said, you know what's gonna happen from minute one until the very end because of its recycled plot. But...how can I convey the fact that, even through all the flaws, the film is quite enjoyable? It's good, and it's one of the most entertaining sports film of the year.