Belle on wheels

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/10/2009 (6180 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Collaborating with Juno star Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore aspires in her directorial debut to create a movie with the grit, the cool and the sheer eccentricity of a low-budget indie film along the lines of, say, Juno.

Barrymore stacks the deck with other hipster assets, most notably in using the source material of Shauna Cross’s girl empowerment novel Derby Girl, adapted by Cross herself.

The action is translated from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas (more cool cachet), the centre of a burgeoning roller derby scene. In the neighbouring Podunk town of Bodeen, 17-year-old Bliss Cavendar (Page) is living an autopilot teen existence: school, working as a waitress and listlessly entering beauty pageants at the behest of her traditionalist mom Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden).

But on a shopping trip to Austin, Bliss notices a few derby queens distributing leaflets. Entranced by their un-ladylike behaviour, Bliss is soon making excuses to drag her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) to a grungy makeshift arena in Austin’s warehouse district. There, she is inspired to dig out her Barbie roller skates and train to join the "Hurl Scouts" alongside boisterous teammates with names such as Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig), Bloody Holly (Zoë Bell), Rosa Sparks (Eve) and Smashley Simpson (Barrymore herself).

Adopting the moniker Babe Ruthless, Bliss attracts the attention of young rocker Oliver (Landon Pigg) even as she emerges as a speedy, agile star of the team, to the delight of long-suffering coach Razor (Andrew Wilson, Luke and Owen’s brother).

But it’s only a matter of time before elbow shots and hip checks bleed over into her personal life, and Bliss finds herself facing hard decisions before she can — apologies — find her Bliss.

If the movie has a funky quality, that’s probably more a product of Barrymore’s inexperience than a deliberate renunciation of Hollywood esthetic. Remember, Barrymore is Steven Spielberg’s goddaughter, and a member of a venerable Hollywood acting family.

Hence, whatever her aspirations to rebel filmmaking, Barrymore can’t resist the pull of cornball convention, whether it’s assigning Bliss an inexplicably hostile roller derby nemesis called Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis), or culminating the action with a groan-inducing coincidence: The derby championship and the beauty contest finals are on the same night!

Even so, Whip It is a likable little movie. Page is a powerful young actress with the ability to provide a quiet centre to the storm of activity around her. Shawkat is a hoot as her best friend, and in her moving dramatic scenes, Harden demonstrates that Hollywood-honed performance chops are not to be taken lightly.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca