Whip It

Ellen Page plays Bliss Cavendar, an out of place 17 year old girl who discovers roller derby and finds herself along the way in Whip It. Also starring Alia Shawkat, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis and many others, this is the directorial debut for Drew Barrymore who also plays the small role of Smashley Simpson.

So, first of all there may not be much that can be called original about the story, outside of the roller derby and indie rock misfit elements. The truth is that Whip It is another coming of age story with a quirky spark, but it works. It’s nothing extraordinary but it refuses to over-dramatise and therefore tells a very nice realistic sweet story about one place in the world.

The cast is nicely assembled. In fact every main and supporting character is well handled and it’s hard to think of anyone noteworthy, not to imply anything derogatory but rather that the casting is well balanced. If anything I can only pick a personal favourite and that would be Andrew Wilson who plays the main team’s coach, Razor.

The only other performance by this actor that I had noticed before was his role as Future Man in Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket and something stood out again this time for me. He portrays a serious yet kind spirited side character who seems to have a story of his own. Although there is an oddness to him it’s not overly quirky and therefore comes off as real, a good example of the tone of this film.

Overall Whip It is a nice comedy that assembles together a nice assembly of actors with a collection of nice clever little bits into a nice film that is nice. Essentially it’s a remake of The Karate Kid (I know a real one is coming but still) in which an out of place teen discovers an activity that consequently brings them about their coming of age. Instead of the teenager impossibly mastering an advanced discipline in a few weeks they show impressive promise and interest in a niche sport.

Tweaking ideas in previous films like Dodgeball, Juno, Stick It and maybe even 8 Mile (maybe) Whip It works, it’s nothing huge but it has a good heart and even though it doesn’t include any tracks from the 80s new wave band, that it’s title seemingly references, it’s a very enjoyable, sweet, albeit slightly lengthy film.

I liked it, despite absence of DEVO.

3.5 out of 5

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