"I like smart girls. That's why I married your mama. Well, that and I knocked her up"
'Whip It' is the directorial début of Drew Barrymore, based on the 2007 book 'Derby Girl' by Shauna Cross who also wrote the the screenplay. Starring Ellen Page, who incidentally dropped out of 'Drag Me to Hell' to appear in this picture, as Bliss Cavendar, a rebellious Texas teen who throws in her small town beauty pageant crown for the rowdy world of roller derby.
Marcia Gay Harden, who I loved in 'Miller's Crossing,' plays her disapproving mother and Daniel Stern her easy going father. On the roller derby side we have Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore and Zoe Bell as Bliss' team mates and Juiliette Lewis as her evil rival. They all adopt stage names so we get wonderful concoctions such as Babe Ruthless, Eva Destruction and Bloody Holly.
Its a typical set-up with a teen growing up and rebelling her mother, making new friends, hurting old ones, meeting a guy and yada, yada, yada . . . but the script is witty, the acting great and the directing hitting all the right notes. It helps that everyone seems to be having the time of their lives and the roller derby scene looks a hell of a lot of fun.
Based on this evidence Drew Barrymore is deft behind the camera and I, for one, will be looking forward to her next directing gig.
8 out of 10
0 comments:
Post a Comment