April 27, 2011

Roller derby


Click here for soundtrack listing and previews.
I watched "Whip It!" (a 2009 comedy/drama, dir. Drew Barrymore, perf. Ellen Page) the other day and I need to say that I'm kind of obsessing over roller derby now. I would never participate, though. I'm too much of a wuss and a weakling. And it's better that I stay on my two feet. Being on wheels never end well for me. I bruise easily. (It looked like a hand span super nova on my right thigh. It's still a little numb there and this skateboarding fall happened...almost three years ago.)

Anyway, I was, at first, hesitant about the movie as Drew Barrymore was directing it. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against her. It's just...well, it was her directing debut and sometimes actor-turned-director debuts can be disasters. (Please excuse my lack of support. I have none.) But, I love Ellen Page so I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did because it was phenomenal. It may have been because I was watching it late...past midnight...but I found that I loved almost everything about it. It probably also helped that the screenplay was written by Shauna Cross who was the author of the book the movie was based on. She also played roller derby. We're off to a good start. And yes, I will just link you to every Wikipedia page there is out there.


The storyline was one we've all seen before: "Billy Elliot"--the one with the boy whose father wanted him to box but the boy wanted to dance--"High School Musical"--the one with the boy whose father wanted him to play basketball but the boy wanted to act--etc. etc. And so here, we have "Whip It!"--the one with the girl whose mother wanted her to win beauty pageants but the girl wanted to play roller derby. A+ for originality. (No sarcasm.)

I was never bored throughout the movie. Loved the romance between Ellen and Landon Pigg (my love for him increased with this movie). Kristen Wiig, always the best (though I prefer her more in SNL). And I think what I loved best was that Drew didn't give herself such a big character. She was a team member and her character was a few cards short of a deck. I think that's also a reason why I enjoyed this movie because the actor-turned-director didn't try to promote herself through her own movie. Her work did it all for her.

My name is Eden and I recommend "Whip It!"

p.s. New song (Awake My Soul, Mumford & Sons) in "Favorite Songs For The Time Being"

2 comments:

  1. I liked this movie a lot. We should go to the underground roller derby in Spanish Fork.

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