Now Available on DVD: Whip It!

Last week I rented Whip It because I love Ellen Page and think that she is hilarious. Though I was a bit disappointed, I thought that the movie was not without a certain amount of charm. The plot is simple, Ellen Page (Sarah Habel) is caught between her dreams and those of her mother (played by Marcia Gay Harden). While her mother enrolls Sarah in various beauty pageants, Sarah is drawn to roller derbies and its subculture. Though she does not want to disappoint her mother, she knows that she must follow her dreams.

The plot appears extremely simple and cliched but Barrymore and Page are able to make a jaded storyline more appealing than other films in the genre. Perhaps the reason for this is because Sarah's dream does not include increasing her popularity and dating the hunky guy at school. Instead it involves a sport and culture that is often considered part of the underbelly of the sports scene (that's when it's even acknowledged at all!). Things seem to get a bit hackneyed when Sarah falls for a band member in a local grunge band. However, that storyline is fleeting and the focus is placed once more on Sarah's conflicting feelings and subsequent personal growth. The movie could have been more interesting if there was a greater focus on roller derbies and less on Sarah's own inner turmoil. Yet, the movie was not intended to be solely about roller derbies and therefore the balance between the two was handled nicely. Overall, it's a story about girl power in the least irritating and most convincing way. As Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, this film shows that she has great potential as a director in this genre. Though I would never have spent the movie admission of $10, it is a good movie to watch curled up on your couch.

-DLP