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Friday, October 2, 2009
Film / Film Reviews / News Whip It: Rolling in style
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 3:01 PM
By Matt Brunson
WHIP IT
DIRECTED BY Drew Barrymore
STARS Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden
Despite the title, you won't find any Devo on Whip It's soundtrack, but the Ramones and .38 Special both make vocal appearances in this film that marks the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. If those two songs ("Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Caught Up in You," respectively) made the journey from Drew's iPod to the big screen, more power to them, as they're certainly in tune with the rock & roll aesthetic on display throughout this rowdy, rebellious film.
Juno's Ellen Page once again flashes her impressive acting chops, this time playing Bliss Cavendar, a 17-year-old whose mother (Marcia Gay Harden) is hell-bent on entering her in every beauty pageant that pops up anywhere near their rundown Texas town. But Bliss eventually finds her true calling when she discovers the sport of roller derby: Adopting the name Babe Ruthless, she lands a second family in the form of her sisters on skates (played by, among others, Kristen Wiig as Maggie Mayhem and Barrymore as Smashley Simpson).
The trappings are all familiar — a disapproving parent, a competitive rival (Juliette Lewis as hard-as-nails Iron Maven), scheduling conflicts, and the climactic championship match — but in the capable hands of Barrymore and scripter Shauna Cross (adapting her own novel, Derby Girl), they're all given a fresh coat of paint that allows the movie to easily skate by on the charms of both its novel setting and its gung-ho cast.
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