Well, Ellen Page does it again. She is by far one of the most talented actresses I’ve seen in a long time. Give her whatever role you want – comedy, drama, chick flick, suspense, horror – she can do it, and do it flawlessly.
Page plays Bliss, a misunderstood, awkward teenager who resides in ho-dunk town Bodeen, Texas where she spends her time serving “squealers” at the local diner and reluctantly participating in local beauty pageants. She doesn’t fit in with the rest of the pageant girls and is under relentless scrutiny from her mother who can’t seem to understand why Bliss does not derive the same enjoyment that she did from the pageants of her youth. Bliss seems to be floating on a sea of indifference, attempting to please her mother and gain her approval but all the while feeling a sense of emptiness at the lack of passion in her life.
This all changes when introverted Bliss comes across a roller derby flyer which her and her friend Pash sneak out to go watch. Seeing the intensity and the freedom of the unrestricted world of roller derby, Bliss has finally found her calling. She decides to try out for the vacant position on the Hurl Scout team. Because of her speed and agility, Bliss is easily chosen as the “quarterback” of derby skating. The initiation of roller derby requires a prodigious game name. With other team members choosing names like “Smashley Simpson,” “Dinah Might,” “Maggie Mayhem,” “Malice in Wonderland,” “Bloody Holly” and “Rosa Sparks,” Bliss is bequeathed the name “Babe Ruthless.”
Page plays Bliss, a misunderstood, awkward teenager who resides in ho-dunk town Bodeen, Texas where she spends her time serving “squealers” at the local diner and reluctantly participating in local beauty pageants. She doesn’t fit in with the rest of the pageant girls and is under relentless scrutiny from her mother who can’t seem to understand why Bliss does not derive the same enjoyment that she did from the pageants of her youth. Bliss seems to be floating on a sea of indifference, attempting to please her mother and gain her approval but all the while feeling a sense of emptiness at the lack of passion in her life.
This all changes when introverted Bliss comes across a roller derby flyer which her and her friend Pash sneak out to go watch. Seeing the intensity and the freedom of the unrestricted world of roller derby, Bliss has finally found her calling. She decides to try out for the vacant position on the Hurl Scout team. Because of her speed and agility, Bliss is easily chosen as the “quarterback” of derby skating. The initiation of roller derby requires a prodigious game name. With other team members choosing names like “Smashley Simpson,” “Dinah Might,” “Maggie Mayhem,” “Malice in Wonderland,” “Bloody Holly” and “Rosa Sparks,” Bliss is bequeathed the name “Babe Ruthless.”
As Bliss lives out her act of rebellion against her mother’s beauty pageants, she falls more in love with roller derby. She has finally found something that she was meant to do, that makes her feel truly alive, unique and happy. In the course of Bliss’s transformation, she leaves behind the quiet, lugubrious girl and forges ahead as a girl with attitude, with a passion for life and charisma she never embodied before. She finds what makes her spirit fly and she runs with it, regardless of what anyone thinks – and for once she stops trying to please everyone else and be true to who she is and what she wants. I wish it came so easy to all of us.
Now, I know a lot of people have generated some animosity towards Drew Barrymore, but you have to give her this one; she knows how direct a five-star movie. Though Barrymore does have a cameo in the film as “Smashley Simpson” of the “Hurl Scouts” roller derby team, she by no means is taking center stage and actually does a really great job of being a psychotically loveable character. Smashley is the most “bad ass” of the group, when her only time on-screen is spent throwing elbows on the track, starting brawls with the competing derby girls, mauling her fiancé or bleeding from her perpetually-fresh wounds, all of which is equally entertaining.
I love that “Whip It!” isn’t just a happily ever after, as is typical in Shakespearean comedies, chick flicks and Disney films. Rather “Whip It!” is more realistic in the fact that sometimes relationships aren’t meant to work out. Sometimes it’s just a fact that you’re dating a jerk and you just shouldn’t be with that guy. So many girls fall victim to a guy’s weakly-constructed excuses and ultimately, they choose to ignore the obvious facts that scream out that that one guy who seems so great is frankly just no good for you. Yet what we typically want to see on the big screen is a relationship to work out – for a guy to change and conform to be the perfectly-reformed boyfriend. But that barely ever happens in real life. Bliss, like a truly self-confident feminist, would not stand for a boy’s bull; she tells a guy what’s what even though it hurts to leave but would hurt even more to stay. There are many life lessons that can be learned from Bliss, like” “Be an individual,” “Stand up for yourself,” “Find what makes you, you” and “Have enough self-respect to know when enough is enough.”
After seeing the advertisements for “Whip It!,” I figured that a roller derby movie would be about as interesting as – well a roller skating movie – dull, typical and forgettable. But where there is Ellen Page, nothing can be forgettable. I love the message that the film sends: Finding something you love will make you feel alive, helping you appreciate every moment. “Whip It!” is definitely worth seeing in theatres; it’s heart-felt, moving, fun and inspirational with a realistic touch. Who needs another unrealistic romantic comedy? Give me the potential of a contented reality any day!
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