The Boys Wanna Be Her ( Guest Blogger WHIP IT Review )

Aside from women’s field hockey, I really couldn’t think of a more brutal sport than roller derby. And yet with Barrymore behind the lens, I knew there would be something special in this…something real, and raw, and brutal-for-a-reason. I knew there would be a point.

If I hadn’t been sold on trying to get a ticket for this World Premiere screening already, by the time I read the cast list, I would have been totally on board. I’m sure she could have had her pick of actresses young and…more seasoned…to glam up the roller derby world for us all, but true to form, Barrymore selected instead an insanely perfect roster of some of the most talented and beautiful artists out there. Daniel Stern and Marcia Gay Harden (on whom I’ve had a mad crush for quite awhile now) are luminuous and startlingly conflicted as the parents of the lead character, Bliss. Alia Shawkat (Pash) and Carlo Alban (Birdman) are genuine and perfect as Bliss’ best friends and sometimes conscience. The roller derby gals, headed by their coach, Razor (who is himself imbued with life by the incredible Andrew Wilson), include the likes of Zoe Bell, Kristen Wiig, Eve, the always amazing to watch Juliette Lewis, and Drew Barrymore, herself, who usually seems to be most comfortable when she is at her most unglamorous.

Heading it all up, and bringing us along to tell her story, is Bliss, played to genuine human perfection by Ellen Page. Barrymore stated before the film started that she’d put all of her experiences, everything she’d learned so far from the business (which comes from an already extensive and nearly life-long career), into a metaphorical box, and drew on all of it when choosing to helm this movie. Based on the novel by Shauna Cross, this story has a little something for everyone, and is largely summed up by the film’s tagline, “Be your own hero”. When casting for the film, Barrymore needed a special kind of hero, someone who everyone could relate to, and empathize with, laugh with and cry with, fight with, lose with, and win with. Someone we could cheer for. Someone who would bring out the hero in all of us.

That someone is Ellen Page.

Page first caught my eye years ago in the very hard to watch, yet impossible to forget movie, Hard Candy. I was blown away by the girl’s talent, her ambiguity, and her ability to make me inherently root for her, even if I didn’t always agree with what she was trying to do. I continued my love affair with her turn in Juno (which also introduced me to my new love, writer Diablo Cody), and was charmed to the core once again. Now, with Whip It, Page has continued to hone her craft, and between her innate talent and Barrymore’s wonderful and natural direction, it really shows.

Whip It takes its audience on what is not so much a ride, as it is a journey. No one in the film is the same from start to finish, no one in the audience will come out feeling the same way they did going in, and everything experienced in between…the highs and lows, the laughter and tears, the wins and losses…all play like ocean waves, rising and falling with the tide. It’s a microcosm…a slice of life delivered to us by characters who are grabbing a hold of it, and all-out living it. It’s magnificent and awkward and messy and daunting and addictive all at once. It’s a wonderful directorial debut for Drew Barrymore. It’s a magical coming together of an incredibly talented and remarkable cast.

And if you don’t walk out of that theatre wanting desperately to don an old pair of Barbie rollerskates, and go get the crap kicked out of yourself while laying down some mean hits of your own, and then laugh with the enemy over drinks later while comparing bruises…well, then, there’s just something wrong with you.