WHIP IT (2009)

Drew Barrymore has worked with some of the biggest directors ever during her almost 30 year career. Names such as Steven Spielberg, Joel Schumacher, Wes Craven, McG, George Clooney and Richard Kelly. She must have picked up a few do's and don'ts from her experiences with that lot.....well as the girlfriend finally got something I fancied watching from Lovefilm, I settled down on a lazy Sunday afternoon to watch Drew's first crack at directing a feature film, Whip It.



Based on a novel by Shauna Cross (who is also on script writing duties here) it explores the rugged, at times brutal, sporting underworld of Roller Derby, a sport barely known over here but apparently a big deal Stateside. The film focuses on 17 year old Bliss Cavendar (played by the always watchable Ellen Page), bored of being forced into beauty pageants by her well intentioned mother and desperate for a slice of the 'alternative' she stumbles upon the Roller Derby League in Austin, the nearest big town to her sleepy, homely haven. It's everything she wants, it's grungy, grimy and 'out there', in a warehouse with strong female competitors with great names such as Maggie Mayhem and Iron Maven. She enters in to try-outs for one of the teams, The Girl Scouts, and her life takes a change for the better as she becomes Babe Ruthless.

Ellen Page is, as per usual, superb. There is something instantly likeable about her, she does the tom boy thing very well and has a kind of 'every-woman' quality about her. I much preferred her in this film to her more famous role in Juno, but I suspect some of that is down to the quality of Diablo Cody's script and her intention to make Juno not instantly appealing. Having said that, there are similarities between the two characters, both think at one stage that they know it all, only to see it all unravel before their eyes. Page excels and you genuinely feel for her and her plight but at the same time she conveys a tough girl exterior that you know is a facade for the character, but crucially not for the actress. She handles the comedy superbly as well with some great comic moments, particularly with her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat).

Page is ably supported by a very good cast. The team mates include Drew Barrymore herself as a comedic nutcase (all good fun) and Kristen Wiig who is very good as Bliss' maternal friend. Juliette Lewis steals the show as Iron Maven, leader of the rival team. Typical Lewis. Mental. The real stand-out support performances though are that of Daniel Stern and Marcia Gay Harden, Bliss' parents. Both very different, they offer two very different pillars and adversaries to Bliss and they really help to give Page's character depth and add much more emotion to the story.

Barrymore's direction is perfectly good, if a little safe. Only a visually beautiful love scene in a swimming pool stands out in the memory, although she does handle the 'action' scenes on the Roller track very well, making them exciting to watch. The kooky, geeky feel to the film has been done before many times and it feels a little tired here.

It's not all good news though. In the final act it goes a little off the boil as it falls on to the familiar path of any old generic sports film. Heart gets broken, friendships fall apart, motivations are questioned - 'will our hero get to compete and win the day?'. Once I reached this point I must admit, my concentration wavered as we bordered on predictability. Credit to the film though, the end is warmly satisfying and does rescue it to a degree.

The other problem with the film is the sport. It's essentially girls on roller skates going round in a circle, occasionally falling over or trying to make someone else fall over. Although Barrymore makes it all very exciting, once you've seen one of these scenes, you've seen it all, including the humour to be found in people falling over (which I must admit I am a massive fan of). Montages help to an extent, but they can't hide the fact that it's not a great sport to watch again and again during a film.

Oh and Landon Pigg annoyed me as the love interest for some reason....although I can't quite put my finger on it.

Those blips aside, it is an enjoyable film with plenty of heart and more than enough to make you laugh. Barrymore does enough with a very good cast to suggest that there could be a future for her behind the camera. Oh and a nice little soundtrack too.

A feel-good film that will not fail to put a smile on your face.