Whip It Good!

By Teresa Jusino

I want to be Drew Barrymore when I grow up. She’s only a couple of years older than I am, and yet she seems to have achieved a perfect balance between maturity and fun. She is a powerhouse actress and producer, which one can’t accomplish without intelligence, business savvy, and a willingness to make the tough calls. And yet, whenever I see her in interviews or behind-the-scenes featurettes, she seems like a big kid – and I mean that in the best way. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, and she seems to be trying to suck every bit of joy out of life.

Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It, is as serious-minded and full of fun as she is. Yet Barrymore pulls off the balancing act better in life than she does in her film.

Whip it, based on the novel, Derby Girl, by Shauna Cross (she also wrote the screenplay), tells the story of Bliss Cavendar, a 17-year-old girl in a podunk Texas town whose mother insists that she participate in beauty pageants. From the start, it’s clear that Bliss is more alternative than the pageant circuit will allow – she dyes her hair blue and has a penchant for combat-boots-and-skirt combos – and when she is introduced to the world of roller derby in Austin, home of alt-everything in Texas, she seems to have found everything she’s been missing in her life.

That the film is any good is thanks to a solid screenplay and some key solid performances. What keeps the script from veering off into Clichéville (Stick It Like Beckham And Bring It On!) is that the focus isn’t really on roller derby, but on Bliss’ relationships, particularly the one with her mother. The best thing Whip It has going for it is one of the most honest and realistic depictions of a mother-daughter relationship I’ve ever seen on film. Ellen Page delivers a kick-ass performance as Bliss, a girl who comes to realize that as important as her own independence is, she shouldn’t forget how much her mother has done and sacrificed for her out of pure love. Marcia Gay Harden is heartbreaking as Mrs. Cavendar, a woman who is helping her daughter navigate adolescence the only way she knows how. They might not understand each other, but they love each other beyond words, so they try as hard as they can to communicate. The fine performances are rounded out by Daniel Stern as Bliss’ loving, if often befuddled dad; and Alia Shawkat as Bliss’ best friend, Pash, who is the tell you what you need to hear not what you want to hear kind of best friend we should all be lucky enough to have.

Barrymore’s directing, like Bliss, is gangly and awkward, still in its adolescence. You can see the potential for greatness in the scenes between Bliss and her mother, in the roller derby action sequences, and in many cute and funny moments scattered throughout. But the pacing of the film is off as it figures out if it wants to be a Teen Movie, a Comedy, a Drama, or some mix of all three. Several of the performances – particularly Barrymore’s as a teammate of Bliss’ on the Hurl Scouts, and Juliette Lewis as the star member of their rival team, the Holy Rollers – are cartoonishly over the top. One could argue that this was done on purpose to highlight the theatricality of roller derby, but skaters are people, too, and whenever the film treated its characters like plot devices instead of people, it went face-first into the track. Barrymore was also really emo about all the shots that involved Bliss’ love interest. Do they really need to stare at each other that long? And there’s a scene in a pool where I can’t get into the making out that’s going on, because the editing that kept the couple underwater for way too long had me panicked that this cute couple was going to drown! How the hell would one hold their breath that long while kissing, anyway?!

So, Whip It isn’t perfect by any means, but it is lots of fun and it contains some moments of gold. Most of all, it’s worth a viewing because it can introduce people to an awesome sport (which I’ll be writing more about here. Stay tuned!), and it tells a kind of story that isn’t usually told in Hollywood films. That, and it also stars Zoë Bell, who can do no wrong. Ever.

TERESA JUSINO was born on the same day that Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so.  As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. She is a founding member and editor of The Revolving Door Commune Blog, is currently at work on a collection of short stories, and is writing a web series for Pareidolia Films called The Pack, which is set to debut this fall! As a geek, Teresa loves all Star Trek, Lost, Fringe, comics, and anything Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, and Neil Gaiman ever touched.  She is also an aspiring fangbanger.  Get Twitterpated with Teresa, or visit her in The Red Room.

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