Reflection: “Whip It”
7 Mar
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Along with my Shutter Island review, I also wrote another review on Drew Barrymore’s Whip It in the March 3rd, 2010 issue of The Exponent. I thought I got the point across in the review about what the film was trying to say. I was curious about seeing Whip It because it was the directorial debut for Drew Barrymore (which I mention in the review) and see if she was able to pull it off. For her first directorial job, I thought she did a pretty decent job.
One of the first things that caught my eye about Whip It which I thought was intriguing was the screenwriter. If you didn’t know, the film is actually based off a book called Derby Girl by Shauna Cross. The author of Derby Girl also wrote the screenplay for the film, which seems like it doesn’t happen too often in Hollywood. It’s very common to hear about a film based on a book straying away from the source material, but in the case for this film, it will be a harder case to make.
Another aspect I liked about Whip It was the unique cast choice for the supporting roles. It was nice to see Alia Shawkat (who plays Pash) in a film like this and surprises me that she doesn’t get bigger roles. It was also nice to see Daniel Stern again in Whip It. He portrays the typical father role pretty well. I only wish that the film could have explored more into the supporting characters because they seem so interesting and could have easily contributed to the film’s story. Like I mention in The Exponent review, I felt the choice of Ellen Page was unoriginal. She did do a terrific job in Whip It, but it would have been nice to see a different actress play the role. Just seems like I saw Ellen Page play this role already as the teenage outcast in Jason Reitman’s Juno.
One thing that I caught in the film that I personally thought came off as tacky was a small product placement. When Maggie Mayhem (played by Kristen Wiig) is putting make-up on Bliss (played by Ellen Page) before her first match, Maggie Mayhem quickly says “can’t have enough Lash Blast.” It came off as odd for me because why couldn’t she just say mascara? After a simple Google search, I found out Lash Blast is a mascara product created by Cover Girl. If you didn’t know, Drew Barrymore is one of the spokespersons for Cover Girl. I personally thought it was unnecessary, but I also realize Drew Barrymore has the right to do it since she is the director.
While the film does have a lot of heart, it really doesn’t innovate or try anything new. When I heard it was a Fox Searchlight film, I figured it would try and break away from the typical formula. However about halfway through the film, you can already tell where it’s heading and how it will end. Despite its small flaws, I was surprised that it couldn’t make back its 15 million dollar budget at the box office. I still recommend giving Whip It a rent whenever you’re bored because it does touch on relationships very well and it nice how it evolves throughout the film.
- Dan Dreher
Tags: Dan Dreher, Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page, March 2010, Movie Review, Northern State University, The Exponent, Whip It
I thought Ellen Page was outstanding and she went outside her usual witty chatterbox role to play a quieter and more emotional role.
I do agree the movie was a bit too unpretentious and did not try very hard to go beyond its unoriginal premise but in all, solid little movie.
I’m surprised to hear that it didn’t make its money back. I haven’t really heard anything too bad about this film but I still have yet to watch it.
It’s one of those movies that I must watch with my girlfriend who is always working. So instead I have to stick to the horror flicks! HAHA!
Whip It never had a chance competing against Zombieland its opening week and its second week against Couples Retreat.
Yea, Couples Retreat was such a masterpiece of film-making. LOL, so sad people actually flock to those movies.
I know that in terms of plot, this film was pretty predictable, but actually I think it did do some original things in terms of how it treated its female characters. It’s really rare to see a mainstream female-driven movie that doesn’t sink into sexist stereotypes, and Whip It generally did a great job creating strong, un-cliche women characters. It also avoided ending the film with the girl and guy getting together, which I found wholly refreshing. It’s among my favorite movies of 2009 mainly because of how great it is to see a coming-of-age sports movie that truly supports strength and independence in its female characters.
you made some strong valid points, thanks for commenting Alex!