REVIEW: WHIP IT!
WHIP IT!
D: Drew Barrymore
Ellen Page, Kristin Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Marcia Gay-Harden, Alia Ashkat, Eve, Ari Graynor
Whip it! is the story of a girl who lives in Modine, Texas, a town where nothing happens. She participates in beauty pageons to make money, and works at a restaurant with her best friend. One day, she finds a flyer for a Rollerskates Derby competition and decides to try it out.
I have a soft spot for Drew Barrymore; I just like her a lot because she's always smiling and radiates happiness, so I watched the movie being a little curious about her take on movies from the Director's chair. I was not disappointed, although I could see little things you know she likes and/or oughts to include in a movie (like Bliss' speech about not wanting to be 'that girl' for example).
What I liked most about this movie is that it's not pretentious. It doesn't claim to be the best thing to come to movie theaters in years, it doesn't want to change the viewers life, it just plans to show this girl's ride and entertain us in the meantime. I loved that. And I loved the characters. I loved all these women coming together to play a game! They have their responsibilities, and they look at the game in very different ways, but they go and they play and they kick ass. It's a rush and a drug and they love it, so they make me -as a viewer- love it.
I do love sports movies. I should've said that before. I do. I think they're entertaining and timeless, you can watch them ten times and still enjoy them, even though you already know the final score and smile at the clichés most of them love to include. Soccer movies, hockey movies, figure skating movies and baseball movies, even though I don't understand baseball at all, are just fun things to watch when you want to relax and just have fun.
Going back to that timeless vibe, I really liked the aesthetic aspect of the film. It was very 80s without being dated. I mean, you could see 80s inspiration in fashion, cars, accessories, the color palette, but it wasn't an 'old' movie at all. I really liked that.
Now, in terms of acting, I was surprised to see I liked most of the characters. I have a problem with Juliette Lewis. I've never liked her, I hate that she always sounds retarded, and although that seemed to fit this character, I still have a hard time liking anything she does. So apart from her, I liked everybody else. Just, how beautiful is Marcia Gay-Harden? I want to be just like her when I grow up (no so botoxy though). And Kristin Wiig? Funny without trying (unlike Jimmy Fallon. Please, someone tell that man that he's not one of the Bee Gees AND that he's not funny anymore. Urgh).
Overall: 3 points with a chance of adding more in future viewings.
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