The movie is called "Whip It". Simmer down pervs, there are no actual whips in the film. The phrase refers to a roller derby technique called "the whip". Hence "whip it". Got it? Good.
So now that we have established the rational behind the misleading name (or is it just me? I really thought there were going to be some kind of bondage involved), we can address the second issue I had to confront before going to see this movie: the subject matter.
Roller Derby
This is not my favourite topic to watch on the big screen. The reason behind this is that I have been burned before with a little LL Cool J film I like to forget I ever saw. The ladies may love Cool James but the Sunflower hated (really hated) his roller derby film. Sorry Cool James, better luck with NCIS Los Angeles. By majority vote my family and friends decided to watch Whip It while I was on holiday a few weeks ago. So off to the cinema we went.
Watch with family and friends
This film is a group watch - so grab four or five of your nearest and dearest buddies and head out to see Whip It. (Or just grab five bums from off the street. The choice is yours.) Why? Because if you watch it on your own you might hang on to the film's flaws and by pass some of the sutler funny parts.
What is good about Whip It?
I'll start by saying that I give this film about 3 petals out of 5. Which lands it squarely in the not bad but not great category. What is good is the acting. The cast is comprised of some genuinely good actors giving spot-on performances. I cant say that Ellen Page (Bliss) is one of them. For Whip It, she pretty much played Juno on skates. Replace the whole pregnancy issue with the coming of age issue and you have her performance nailed. No surprises, no soul searching or digging deep to pull off her role. Kind of a repeat performance, but a good repreat performance. Second time the charm?
Marcia Gay Harden, Alia Shawkat, Carlo Alban and Daniel Stern who played Bliss's mom, best friend, boss and dad respectively were great. But the stand out performance was Andrew Wilson who played the coach. Juliette Lewis as usual gave a stellar performance.
What is not-so-good?
The film moves slowly at times and contains a few irrelevant scenes which could have been left on the cutting room floor. There are other weak points in the movie but to expand on them would give away some of the plot.
What I can say is that for a film about a young woman's journey into self awareness through roller derby, the roller derby scenes are not that great. But few films if any are perfect. Whip it, as mentioned earlier is actually fairly good, not great but definitely a go-see.
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