Whip It (2009)

Posted : 1 week, 1 day ago at Nov 14 5:54

"The last time I wore skates, they had Barbies on them." For Whip It, first-time director Drew Barrymore has crafted a sports flick and a coming-of-age tale rolled together to produce a warm, droll charmer of a motion picture. Shauna Cross wrote the screenplay for the film, which was adapted from her own novel Derby Girl: a fictional story constructed using anecdotes from the author's time spent in the professional female roller derby. While Whip It succumbs to several screenwriting conventions, the energy of Barrymore's direction is able to compensate for the script sputtering, and the actors all breathe jubilant life into this adamantly character-driven film. The story concerns Texas-based teenager Bliss Cavendar (Page) who resides in the small, dead-end town of Bodeen. She has fal...Read more

Posted : 1 month, 2 weeks ago at Oct 9 13:29

Ellen Page is my generation’s version of Winona Ryder. That became increasingly evident as I watched Whip It. She’s a brainy brunette with a penchant for playing shy, quiet, underachieving smart(ass) girls. Her character in Whip It is similar, but has none of Juno’s defining pop culture rapid-fire zingers. I am not female, but by the end of this movie I felt like an empowered and strong female. Not because it bashes anything, but because it refuses to compromise and sink into clichés. Her cute alternative boyfriend turns out to not be perfect. In a lesser movie she’d make a different decision. Her parents give her permission to go to the big game at the last minute and cheer her on from the sidelines, and, once again, in a different movie the more obvious choice would have happ...Read more