Info

The opinions, comments and viewpoints expressed in articles are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the webmaster.

All press articles are still under copyright from the original source and provided for entertainment purposes and research only. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


» WTAM 1100 DVD Review - Whip It
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

Printerfriendly version · Read 115 times

Last Update: 09/02/2010          © 2006-2010 Dominik Keppner