Patrick Sun
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 1999
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Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut with "Whip It", a film featuring Ellen Page playing Bliss, a girl in high school in Bodeen, burdened by her mother's idea of pageantry as means to a better future, while working at the Oink Joint with her school friends Pash and Birdman, going nowhere fast. A happy accident draws in Bliss into the world of roller derby, and puts her literally on her path of follow her own bliss, even at odds with her home situation.
Overall, it was a lot of fun with the roller derby subplot, and even the home situations are earnest enough and not cringe-worthy to paint a more complete picture of Bliss and her choices. Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern play Bliss's parents. Barrymore made her character to be some of the comic relief, while allowing Kristen Wiig some screentime to provide some groundedness in the film, and Juliet Lewis to bring her "Patrick Swayze" swagger to the party.
If you've never seen roller derby, don't worry, the film makes an effort to explain the scoring concepts, and you get some vivid characters from the different teams in the league (just don't expect too much backstory since it's mainly about Bliss). The roller derby names for these players are pretty entertaining.
I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.
Overall, it was a lot of fun with the roller derby subplot, and even the home situations are earnest enough and not cringe-worthy to paint a more complete picture of Bliss and her choices. Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern play Bliss's parents. Barrymore made her character to be some of the comic relief, while allowing Kristen Wiig some screentime to provide some groundedness in the film, and Juliet Lewis to bring her "Patrick Swayze" swagger to the party.
If you've never seen roller derby, don't worry, the film makes an effort to explain the scoring concepts, and you get some vivid characters from the different teams in the league (just don't expect too much backstory since it's mainly about Bliss). The roller derby names for these players are pretty entertaining.
I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.