WHIP IT — ★★★ — Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig; rated PG-13 (violence, vulgarity, profanity, slurs, brief drugs, brief gore, brief sex); in general release
By all rights, "Whip It" shouldn't work as a movie. It's the odd love child of such snarky girl-power features as the "Bring It On" films and "Juno," as well as more male-centric sports comedies like "Slap Shot."
Speaking of "Juno," this film also features that movie's star, Ellen Page. As a women's roller derby player, she looks too short and too frail to be dishing out any punishment — much less being able to survive any of it.
Yet it goes to show what a good cast can do with certain types of material.
And by the way, it also features some surprisingly assured direction. Drew Barrymore makes her feature filmmaking debut with the movie, and the fact that she pulls this bit of trickiness off shows she might have a bright future behind the camera.
Page stars as Bliss Cavendar, a Texas teen whose former beauty pageant-winner mother, Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden), is pushing and prodding her into following in her footsteps.
Strong-willed Bliss has other ideas, though. She wants to skate in a women's roller derby league in nearby Austin.
And to her surprise, does land a spot in the league — on the last-place team, the Hurl Scouts. Fast-skating Bliss might even give them a chance for a much-needed win.
As enjoyable as the film is, it's not without problems. A subplot about Bliss' relationship with an indie-rock musician (Landon Pigg) is an unnecessary distraction.
But Barrymore and screenwriter Shauna Cross score points for the believable depiction of the strained mother-daughter dynamic. (Harden and Page deserve some kudos for that as well, obviously.)
Their supporting castmates have moments to shine as well, especially Daniel Stern (who plays Bliss' father), Alia Shawcat (her best friend), Kristen Wiig (her teammate/surrogate mother figure) and Andrew Wilson (her coach).
Even Barrymore gets into the act, as the Hurl Scouts' punchy, quick-to-violence team captain.
"Whip It" is rated PG-13 and features scenes of roller derby-related violence (falls, body checks, as well as some fisticuffs and brawling), sexually suggestive humor and references, other off-color jokes, scattered strong profanity, derogatory language and slurs, brief drug references (marijuana) and some underage drinking, brief bloody imagery, and some brief sexual contact. Running time: 111 minutes.
e-mail: jeff@desnews.com