Childish. 'Princess Diaries' Meets 'Kansas City Bomber'.

Rating: 6/10 (14 October 2010)

i felt bad about not really liking this. for one thing, i would love to encourage Drew Barrymore's directorial debut because she's such a great actress and more women film directors are needed in mainstream film. i don't think it was her direction here i think it was just the concept. her direction was actually very professional. another thing is this movie had such a great cast it was worth it for that alone. even though surprisingly, Ellen Page was not her best.
the real stand out in the whole film was Juliette Lewis who was outstanding in this. her performance gave you a glimpse of what the film could have been if it was aimed at an older crowd and not teens.
that was my problem with this. a roller derby movie that comes off like one of those corny Disney flicks like 'Ice Princess'. even Ellen Page's transformation from mousey little girl with glasses to tough roller derby queen "Babe Ruthless", seemed less likely than the ugly duckling transformation in the 'Princess Diaries'. in 'Kansas Bomber', Raquel Welch was a mature, sexy, woman. Ellen Page is a excellent actress but, let's face it, she has all the sex appeal of a Minnie Mouse or a Holly Hobbit.
Ellen Page is a really first rate actress for someone so young. she was near brilliant in the terrific 'Hard Candy', and she was cute and engaging in the funny 'Juno', but i thought after 'Juno' she wasn't going to make anymore kids movies. guess not. her performance in this movie is disappointing. it's dull and immature and lacks any adult sophistication. she is totally overpowered by Juliette Lewis's knock out performance and more interesting character. as a matter of fact, Page was pretty much upstaged by all the actresses. Barrymore and Marcia Gay Harden are pretty hard to compete with.
the total innocuous, harmless of this kiddie flick confused me. i mean it's about the F'N roller derby. it's supposed to be mean and tough not a harmless film for kids. the minute Page falls in love with a boy who looks and acts like James Blunt and they have a mushy puppy love affair it pretty much turned me off to all of this
this is definitely a kids film. mostly a film for little girls. the only problem i could see any parent having with it is probably the drug usage and the swearing. some parents do'nt care about that stuff. as a 49 year old male that stuff doesn't phase me. i suppose if i had a teen age girl i would probably worry about it a little more.
aside from the performances of some outstanding actresses, the best thing i can recommend about this is that it's a good film for young girls. it empowers them and teaches them to toughen up for the hard knocks life can deal you. that's a good message and worth something. let's just hope it doesn't empower them to the point they lie about their age in order to join the roller derby. that or they get a tattoo or something.