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Where the Wild Things Are, Ponyo, Amelia, Whip It and more! by Derek Sante, Clear Channel, published on Thursday, March 4, 2010 [...] Whip It (DVD & Blu-Ray) Drew Barrymore makes her bow as a director with this Roller Derby coming-of-age number, which shares the spirit of so many of Barrymore's movies: it's loosey-goosey, cheerful, and buoyant in waving its "Girls Rule!" flag. On screen, Barrymore relegates herself to a slapstick supporting role, handing the lead to Juno gal Ellen Page. Page plays a Texas teen with a yen to join Austin's Roller Derby squad, complete with new professional moniker Babe Ruthless, but she'll have to keep the side career secret from her beauty-pageant-obsessed Mom (Marcia Gay Harden) and football-watchin' Dad (Daniel Stern). A coming-of-age tale emerges between bouts of skating on the RD track (Jimmy Fallon plays the goofy Derby announcer), with a dash of romance added in the form of a generic Dude in a Band. Kristen Wiig does surrogate-mom duty as a teammate, Juliette Lewis is appropriately out-there as a track rival, and Andrew Wilson (bro of Owen and Luke) gets some hilariously poker-faced lines in as the team's coach. All the pleasant stuff makes you almost overlook how ramshackle the movie is, and how standard-issue the parental tensions (even if Harden is a total pro, as always). Ellen Page doesn't offer the innate audience-friendly cuddliness of Barrymore herself--thus her apt casting as Juno's brittle heroine--but her rapt focus is something to behold. "Babe Ruthless" indeed. Special Features: Deleted Scenes includes an alternate opening and eight other deleted or extended scenes, all of them rightfully trimmed. Fox Movie Channel Presents Writer's Draft: Shauna Cross of Whip It is a brief interview with the screenwriter, who explains the origins of the story in her own past as a derby girl. Grade: C+ Whip It is a fun movie, but not groundbreaking. And while it promotes confidence, friendship and girl power; it doesn’t set a bar for cult classic status. [...] Source: www.wtam.com |