I think it's time to admit that Drew Barrymore has grown up.
I don't say this with any joy - Barrymore is the Piscean actress I admire most, who seems to float through her career with lots of interesting detours, never quite with a sense of direction... but always somehow terrific - like not winning an Emmy for Grey Gardens, and yet, somehow, clearly being in charge of its every success.
Still, when you direct a major motion picture - and the results are as charming and winning as the new Whip It - perhaps it is time to admit that someone has put away childish things.
Whip It doesn't give up on kid-like enthusiams - there's lots of swearing, riot grrls with tattoos, and even a food fight - but it succeeds admirably for two reasons: one is by keeping its eye on a smal, sweet story and the other is by making female centered film about sport.
Roller derby may not seem an obvious choice for turning into a tale of sport heroics, but in Barrymore's hands it all makes sense. Whip It is the story of Bliss, a sweet, shy girl who tries to live up to her mother's dream of competing in Texas beauty pageants, but finds herself drawn to the wild girls of a local roller derby, winds up pulling out her old skates and trying out for the team. In short order, she learns to be a tough, kickass derby girl, and helps lead her team of lovable misfits to a chance at greatness.
Oh yeah... and she gets the lead singer in a rock band and she totally wins her parents over to her side.
Whip It breathes knowing coolness by remembering why coolness matters: it's how misfits and geeks work to redefine themselves in a way that both says "fuck off" to the world and rises above the stupidity of petty humiliations. If the gals in Whip It throw more elbows and take more hits than the rest of us, they also get to remind us that they do it all with heart and a shared camaraderie. This is girl power of the best sort, a film that believes in women, in their strength, and their power... and believes we can all get there, if we tap into our natural resources.
In a field of great, winning performances, two really stand out: Marcia Gay Harden reiterates her capabilities as an actress as Bliss' mother, a mail carrier of modest means who dreams of big things for her daughters. It's a performance so layered and so full of possibilities, that it lingers long after the film is over. The other is Kristen Wiig, displaying the kind of mix of toughness and good heartedness that I think Jennifer Aniston yearns to produce naturally, as team captain and mentor to Bliss.
Of course, the whole affair wouldn't work if the lead performance sucked, and Ellen Page reminds us, yet again, that Juno was not a fluke (or a mannered, indie exception). Page is the real thing, a winning mix of grit, determination and winsomeness, perfect for teen rebels and exploring the less obvious, less seen contours of life as a teenage girl. Though Bliss becomes a roller derby standout, we can see that this development amazes herself as much as the audience, and that she will not sacrifice her other strengths - a goodhearted nature and sense of decency - for success. I'm not sure many sports films have had a hero, or heroine, this good.
Barrymore pulls all of this together with a sureness and a sense of off kilter grace that, again, show a real grown-up flair; it's absurd that she has had to work so long for an opportunity handed to 20 year old boys out of USC... but I suspect Barrymore needed a life's journey to get to the point of telling stories this well and with this much assurance. I can't wait to see more... even if the film is not perfect, and the biggest misstep is Barrymore herself, in a somewhat misconceived supporting role as the klutzy, fight prone team member. She's better, and bigger than the part... and it shows.
But that's a minor quibble. Barrymore gets so much good work out of so many people (rapper/actress Eve, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, and a slew of lovely teen unknowns), and shows such a winning touch with the material, it's almost absurd how she can take some of the hoariest elements of storytelling, and give them a fresh, edgy spin. And mostly it's because, to its (broken) bones, Whip It believes that women can do anything. So do I. And someday, I think, the rest of the world will grow up to that.
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