Day 023 || Whip It

Whip It, 2009

Dir. Drew Barrymore

"You guys came in second out of two teams. Yeah, let's celebrate mediocrity! That's fantastic."

I'm just going to come right out and say it and skip all the formalities. I unapologetically loved the hell out of Whip It, Drew Barrymore's first directorial effort. I could make a laundry list of everything I loved about this film, and that could essentially be the entirety of the review.

I could blame it on a film high, or simply because my expectations were lowered, but I'd be a lying. And then what kind of a internet "critic" would be, right? No, I was actually looking forward, very much, to this film ever since I saw the trailers and was sold on the quirky, girl-empowerment, comedy angle. It didn't hurt that Kristen Wiig and Zoe Bell were in it, who I absolutely adore for a variety of reasons.

Seeing Jim Fallon was a part of it...kind of did hurt my chances of liking it. But Jimmy Fallon, though easily one of the smaller and non-memorable parts, was pretty funny actually. His commentator character doesn't hold a grudge to the great performances we've seen such as in Dodgeball (Jason Bateman specifically) or Best in Show.

I think the fact that I was able to write an entire paragraph about the good work Jimmy Fallon (for repetition's sake, Jimmy Fallon people!), has done here, speaks to the quality of this film. All the leads are incredibly likeable, along with having several layers and depth to give them intrigue. And that could just be applied to Bliss' (the focal point of the story, played subtly and honestly by Ellen Page) family, because as well acted as Bliss' parents are (Marcia Gay Harden and underutilized Daniel Stern), it's nothing compared to The Hurl Scouts.

The Hurl Scouts are the roller derby team that Bliss eventually joins as she falls in love with the sport and the "take-no-name" leading ladies. The Scouts consist of various actresses, the aforementioned Zoe Bell, Kristen Wiig, Eve, and Drew Barrymore, herself, as Smashley Simpson. This team dynamic could've played out as something we've seen several times before but it turns into a maternal family, which is helped by the fact that the entire cast of girls had such great chemistry together. Anytime The Hurl Scouts are on the screen, the film passes the line of really good, and becomes sublime.

That's not to say that there aren't some very cliched and played out moments, because there most definitely are. This is a sports film, after all. You'll pretty much know how everything is going to play out, but because Barrymore handles everything so sweetly and energetically, it's hard not to forgive the film for it all.

Whip It has some flaws, mostly the cliched moments one would come to expect from this type of film and a second act that loses some of it's energy and gets sidetracked in melodrama, but it nails everything else perfectly. Even with said flaws, it's a film that I fell in love with almost immediately and can not wait to show to all my friends. The characters that inhabit this world are so enjoyable that the film flies by, and you're almost sad to leave them. Whip It's not a perfect film, but it's pretty close, and so damned enjoyable that I'm going to give it the highest recommendation I can give. It's the best film in it's genre/type hands down.

And it's easily a better film than Juno. Yeah...I said it.

5 out of 5