wcbe: : Whip It (2009-09-30)

Ellen Page is not Raquel Welch, but they both have played heroines of roller derby films, the former in the current Whip It and the latter in Kansas City Bomber (1972). Besides the obvious differences in bust line, the two characters are ages apart in age and maturity, Welch's K.C. Carr has two kids to worry about, Page's Bliss has two conventional parents and the boredom of Bodeen (Texas, that is) to escape.

Whip It is a modest tale of a young girl who finds salvation in nearby Austin's women's roller derby. The script is a running clich� from the shy girl becoming formidable to the aggressive girl growing up. So what new director Drew Barrymore brings to this enjoyable little dramady is the fun the Hurl Scouts girls have in their friendships and games, even in their enemies (what's not to enjoy with a 40 something Juliette Lewis hamming up the part of "Iron Maiden").

While Barrymore's camera doesn't provide much subtle analysis of the action, it does offer close-ups that help define the many interesting, but usually underdeveloped, characters. As for lead Ellen Page, now there's an actress with a future. Although this role hardly offers the edgy dialogue of Juno or gritty suspense of Hard Candy, she nonetheless makes this roller romp worth seeing.

Although the roller girls sitting next to me at the preview weren't half as glam as the actresses on the screen, I would have liked to hang out with those amateurs because they have the same energy and fun projected on the screen and an additionally tender je ne sais quoi that complements their toughness. Oh, well, I am a hopeless romantic on wheels.

If you have a daughter who needs to find a way to channel her rebellion, you would not do half bad by letting her join the derby or at least see Whip It, where women and girls hold the story better than most of the boy-men I have seen this year on the screen.