Review

No, I didn’t take the time to think up a good title for this post cuz I had a bad day yesterday. Like really, really bad. It was so bad that I quit my job and that was at lunch. And that was because people are expletive worse-expletive expletive bastards. The day did not get better from that point and I just didn’t get around to writing my usual Monday post. (Yes I know it wasn’t actually Monday but Tuesday but it was the beginning of the week after the holiday so it is the Monday of this week). I was going to do a full review of Whip It but a short review plus some bitching will have to suffice.

So like clockwork last Friday I went out and saw a movie. I was happy to be there as usual ready for my cinematic experience blissfully unaware that I would be jobless in just a few days. If I had known I probably would have picked something better than Whip It to spend my hard earned funds on. It wasn’t bad but it was just so mediocre that it is pointless. Well hindsight is 20/20 so I will never see my $10.50 again.

The movie is a coming of age story with roller derby and a scary looking Juliette Lewis. Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) has grown up in small town Texas competing in pageants as her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) vicariously lives through her and her sister. Bliss is awkward and trying to find herself. On a fated trip to Austin she gets a flyer for the roller derby. She and her best friend (Alia Shawkat) find there way there and her life is changed forever.

Whip It is the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. You could see with her years of being in front of the camera she has picked up some tricks but has not learned how to properly utilize them. She tries very hard to find her shots and keep it indie and interesting looking at the same time. But some of the clumsy framing is distracting.

Now when it came to the story itself well there just isn’t anything that stands out in particular. It tries to create interesting characters but it falls a bit short. Much of the movie is bland and then there would be a random interjection of quirk that it would be blatantly obvious that they were trying something.

Secondary characters were also not used in this movie. They were there almost as screen filler. I don’t know if it was because there was just so many of them or if they didn’t know how to integrate them into the story properly. But while watching the movie I did find myself wanting to know what happened with someone other than the main character. Like Bliss’ father played by Daniel Stern. There was something subtly interesting about him that made me just want to know more, like he had a trick up his sleeve or something. At the end of the movie he does one of the funniest things in the whole film.

I can’t say the acting was bad. Most of the performances were entertaining to well acted. The only bad performance was by the love interest Oliver played by Landon Pigg. He just seemed creepy and he just tried so hard to be nonchalant and cool and hipster. He just didn’t work. Page did what she could with the roll and she is a great actress and everyone else just seemed to be having fun with it.

When I walked out of the movie I was satisfied that I saw a new film and didn’t hate it. But there was just nothing great about Whip It. Now this week I will have to be hella picky about what I choose to see since my funds will be tight and I just can’t throw it away on any random crap.

Tra