Buoyed almost entirely by a sympathetic performance from a very special young actress

Rating: 7/10 (22 October 2009)

In the suburbs of Bodeen, Texas, a teenage misfit named Bliss (Ellen Page) is forced into beauty pageants by her controlling and conservative mother (Marcia Gay Harden). Bliss is low on confidence and has to work in a depressing diner called the Oink Joint, where she is surrounded by rude and selfish customers. When buying shoes one day, Bliss picks up a pamphlet advertising a women's roller skating derby. Bliss and her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) secretly attend the derby and Bliss is fortunate enough to catch the eye of a young rocker named Oliver (Landon Pigg) and to also be invited to attend the roller derby team tryouts herself. Although she has not used skates since she was small, Bliss has a great mixture of footwork and speed and is accepted into the team, the Hurl Scouts. She is joined by other misfits and extremely tough girls such as Smashley Simpson (Drew Barrymore) and Rosa Sparks (Rap singer Eve). The team is yet to win a game in its history and is regularly overshadowed and taunted by its fierce rivals.
The directional debut of Drew Barry is a very formulaic sports film, but it is elevated greatly by a lovely performance by Ellen Page, who brings a real sense of endearment to the screen. With her drooping body language and tiny frame, Page's character convincingly displays a look of vulnerability and innocence. Small touches, like the cracks in her nerdy glasses and her twisted feet as she stands, add to the believability of her character. She is very obviously an outcast and the way she is pushed around by people including her own mother, warrants our sympathy for her. Although she is again playing a teenager, Page is very far from her role in Juno here. It is as though all of that ultra confidence and sassy attitude has been drained from her. Though Bliss' rise to top form in the ring is certainly predictable, seeing her effortlessly skating in circles, high-fiving spectators and overcoming her insecurities, makes the film a real pleasure to watch.
Though the film is quietly funny at times, sports lovers will also be delighted with the competency in which the roller derby sequences are handled. Although this not exactly Million Dollar Baby, the fierce hits, cheap shots and bloody noses ensure that this should not be mistaken for a kid's sports film either. This is an extremely brutal, tough and surprisingly violent game at times. The action in all of the matches throughout is very exciting and Barrymore has done a solid job of capturing the brutality of the sport and the hits from these extremely fierce and brave women.
The film is not without its mistakes though. Some moments, such as a food fight, would seem more fitting in a Disney movie and until an exciting climax; the film feels slightly over-extended in its third act. The relationship too between Bliss and Oliver has been criticised for being seemingly uninteresting. Rather cleverly though, the abrupt end to their relationship actually does serve to reinforce the film with a simple but edgy message. This is not a story about winning people over to one's cause. Rather, it is a film about living in the moment and enjoying what feels right you at the time. Although by the end Bliss' mother still does not approve of the sport and states that it won't last, this does not matter. Bliss is not out to satisfy her parents but to do something that feels fitting for her own persona. She has found something that determines herself as a tough and tenacious fighter and in the final frames she is able to literally stand above the Oink Joint.
Drew Barrymore has made fun and entertaining picture that is buoyed almost entirely by a sympathetic performance from a very special young actress. Without Page, the film would probably collapse under its own predictability. Yet it is Ellen Page's sense of vulnerability and her innocence that ensures that we want to see her character succeed on this journey and when she does it really leaves the audience in a spin. It's a very sweet film.