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Whip It (2009)
Oct. 8th, 2009 09:30 amSaw this roller derby movie -- Drew Barrymore's directorial debut -- with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
holyoutlaw last night. It's a lot of fun. It's a combination sports movie and coming of age story. It's perhaps a bit ramshackle, with a few extraneous scenes, but it still moves along and hits all the right grace notes. Nothing particularly new or innovative, and its biggest asset is probably its sense of humor. It's fun, it's feelgood, it's feeling. I even shed a couple of tears in the tear-jerking sequences.
This works as a good ad for roller derby, too. It explains the scoring system right up front, and peppers the dialogue with the terminology. I imagine it will create some new fans. Squarely aimed at young women, but I was sitting next to another guy who was maybe my age who was there with his girlfriend, and he loved it too. "It's really cute," he kept saying. "The jokes are good." I didn't even mind his little comments. Back behind us was a crew of young women who chatted up a storm all the way through the trailers and after the movie were comparing their bruises (Luke said). Maybe a local roller derby team? There was good energy in the house. Positive vibrations.
Really good cast, too, and Juliette Lewis seemed to be enjoying herself way too much playing the sort-of mean-girl bad-ass.
I suppose my random comment would be that as far as slightly ramshackle feelgood comedies-with-a-heart go, this is comparable to Ang Lee's recent Taking Woodstock, except without the wistful nostalgic feeling. I think Whip It actually made me feel happier, although I couldn't tell you why. Perhaps I was just a victim of circumstance.
holyoutlaw last night. It's a lot of fun. It's a combination sports movie and coming of age story. It's perhaps a bit ramshackle, with a few extraneous scenes, but it still moves along and hits all the right grace notes. Nothing particularly new or innovative, and its biggest asset is probably its sense of humor. It's fun, it's feelgood, it's feeling. I even shed a couple of tears in the tear-jerking sequences.This works as a good ad for roller derby, too. It explains the scoring system right up front, and peppers the dialogue with the terminology. I imagine it will create some new fans. Squarely aimed at young women, but I was sitting next to another guy who was maybe my age who was there with his girlfriend, and he loved it too. "It's really cute," he kept saying. "The jokes are good." I didn't even mind his little comments. Back behind us was a crew of young women who chatted up a storm all the way through the trailers and after the movie were comparing their bruises (Luke said). Maybe a local roller derby team? There was good energy in the house. Positive vibrations.
Really good cast, too, and Juliette Lewis seemed to be enjoying herself way too much playing the sort-of mean-girl bad-ass.
I suppose my random comment would be that as far as slightly ramshackle feelgood comedies-with-a-heart go, this is comparable to Ang Lee's recent Taking Woodstock, except without the wistful nostalgic feeling. I think Whip It actually made me feel happier, although I couldn't tell you why. Perhaps I was just a victim of circumstance.
