Whip It is about girls’ Roller Derby, directed by Drew Barrymore. She is also the executive producer and plays the part of Smashley Simpson. Whip It refers to a move whereby one of the teammates swings the skater farther and faster by whipping or flinging them out with their arm to a farther position.
If you want a mostly fun, feel good movie, go see it. It is both believable and a fairy tale. It has elements of beauty and of discomfort (literally.) There is romance and disappointment in love. A strong, domineering mother makes some of the other events almost seem a given.
Lots of action; lots of skating; lots of body hits…the typical (or not so typical) difficulties in separating into adulthood by the two young girls. All the Roller Derby women, while playing rough, seem to respect each other’s abilities.
Ellen Page (Juno) plays Bliss Cavendar whose mother (Marcia Gay Harden) wants her to do pageants. She, OTOH, leans towards Indie musicians. Her bff Pash (Alia Shawkat) is her cohort in crime.
Both desire to get away from their small town. Bliss doesn’t have any direction (pageants don’t count as they seem so anachronistic.) Pash has applied to Ivy Leagues. They push the limits of what they can get away with, while being good kids. On one of their exploits, Bliss becomes enamored with Roller Derby. Later she lies about her age when she auditions and becomes her alter-ego Babe Ruthless.
All this without telling her parents.
She is able to get to practice and the games by riding the Bingo bus into Austin.
Both girls work in a restaurant after school. Carlo Alban plays Birdman, one of their friends, who now has a responsible position at the restaurant. He offers some surprises.
Bliss’ father (Daniel Stern) is one of those movie fathers you just have to love. I rank him right up there with Bella’s father in Twilight. Neither dad has a clue about what their daughters are into, but both clearly love their daughters and want the best for them. Bliss’ dad toes the line around his wife, but secretly watches football. He’s living the life of a turtle.
The relationship between Bliss’ father and mother is cute and sexy in a humorous way.
The action all comes to a head when the championship Roller Derby event takes place the night of the pageant. How it all works out is part of the movie. It doesn’t happen as I thought it might.
There is a beautifully filmed scene in the pool. While this was beautiful, it also made me uncomfortable. All I could think of was the possibility of tragedy (which thankfully didn’t come) like Bella ends up in the hospital.
Juliette Lewis plays Iron Maven — and she is a sight to behold.
I’m ready for a rematch.
Have you seen it?
Before we went in, the girl who took our tickets said she just loved it.
Karin
www.savvythinker.com
please don’t take my entire posts
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1 comment so far ↓
Yes rematch definitely! Where’s Whip it 2?
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