Whip It

What a fun movie with some great actors! I was shaken at first by some really poor choices by first-time director Drew Barrymore, but great performances by Kristen Wiig, Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, and Juliette Lewis helped a great deal to redeem this flick. The men in this film were not as awesome. Drew took some chances on some male actors that were clearly out of their league in this one. Andrew Wilson felt like an awkward Owen Wilson (his younger bro) impersonator for much of them film, and Landon Pigg, Ellen's love interest, was pretty flat. Jimmy Fallon was also used pretty poorly, but he did have a few funny moments. After a rocky start of awkward jumps from scene to scene and random dialogue-less shots and falling down montages (and several big jokes that literally got zero laughs in a crowded theatre...ouch!), this movie finds some footing and delivers some great one-liners and a pretty awesome female empowerment message without shoving it down anyone's throat. I appreciated the subtlety a great deal. I can see a very strong story in the movie and can tell that the novel must be pretty solid. Rounding off some great comedic performances was one delivered by Alia Shawkat of 'Arrested Development' fame. What a great best friend. Alia stole most scenes she was in. So, do not rush out to see this movie, but do catch it eventually for some fun, tenderness and (mostly) bloodless violence. I would probably be pretty confident in calling this the ladies' 'Dodgeball.' I am just putting that out there. I can't wait for the someday that Ellen Page gets to actually play a 22 year-old.