Fox Searchlight Pictures | US | 111 mins
Whip It marks Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut and it is only a minor success. This is a cliché and fairly predictable film, but it ultimately works in the end despite noticeable shortcomings. It prevails due to a few notable performances and some well composed sequences. There are plenty of problems such as its predictable narrative — nothing that original to be found here. While these problems could bother viewers to some extent, its hard not to enjoy this film because of Ellen Page.
Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is an average and under-the-radar type teenager. She’s not particularly happy and it doesn’t help that her mother pushes her into beauty pageants. One day when she’s out buying a pair of shoes, she runs into a pack of roller derby girls. After they catch her eye she grabs a flier they left behind — it was for a roller derby night. Bliss decides to lie to her parents so she can have her first roller derby experience. She becomes infatuated with the game once she first sees it playing out. After meeting a team and learning that they’re holding tryouts, she decides to give it a go. Bliss actually makes the team despite her not being of the proper age to play. You must be twenty-one and she is a teen. From then on it’s her participating in a game that makes her feel pure happiness, falling for the typical rock star love interest and lying to her parents.
With this being a coming of age tale in many ways, it’s not hard to predict where the story is going to go. It is a typical predictable story line that doesn’t produce anything new. It is obvious that Bliss will still be OK even after it becomes known that you must be twenty-one to participate in the roller derby. This is an average pre-conception and the film follows through on it. Her relationship with her parents will of course be fine in the end, because that is what always happens in these films. The only reason why these moments don’t make the film lackluster is because a few of these scenes are actually earned. Bliss’s relationship with her parents, mostly with her relatable father, earns the sentimental moments. It’s not highly engaging, but it’s understandable and easy to connect to. Those moments are where the film truly succeeds. Unfortunately, there’s a completely unneeded subplot with Bliss’s love interest. This useless relationship could have been cut and it wouldn’t have effected the outcome of the story.
The main factor that makes Whip It work is the acting. Ellen Page adds an impressive performance to her filmography. This isn’t up there with her roles in Juno or Hard Candy, but she makes the film entertaining. It is a true testament to her talent that she can take such a generic role and make the character likable and engaging. She even makes the moments with her love interest not utterly cringe worthy since they’re so unnecessary. Another highlight performance comes from comedian Daniel Stern. He plays the most reasonable and involving character. All he wants is his daughter to be happy.
As stated earlier, this is Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut. Many actors have delved into directing and have had terrific results such as Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, and Warren Beatty. This film certainly doesn’t showcase directing chops on the level of those actors, but it is still a worthy welcome. The one thing Barrymore gets right is the roller derby scenes. Knowing very little and having seen very little of roller derby, these moments were genuinely fun and involving. Barrymore shoots them as if she is shooting an action sequence, keeps them fast paced and provides a good sense of geography. There’s also a few well composed shots that are visually pleasing such as a pool scene and the final crane shot. These are all the bright spots in the direction. It is a simplistically shot film and doesn’t have a very distinct look, but there are a few impressive moments that show Barrymore has a good eye for directing.
This isn’t anything particularly memorable and there are plenty of other coming of age films that are miles better than this. With that said, this still is a light hearted and entertaining film.