Whip It (2009)

I am tired of writing favorable reviews. The title of this blog is “A Phantasmagoria of Complaints!” not “A Plethora of Praise”. Yet lately I’ve been on a kick of happy reviews about good movies. Well frankly it’s getting old. At least for me. I don’t know about on your end.

So I went to see Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It with this “ready to hate it” attitude in mind. The trailers for the movie make it look insufferably stereotypical and predictable. Ellen Page in yet another “I’m a unique and misunderstood teenager” role. Neatly packaged lessons about “growing up” and being “different.” Modern acceptable girl-power femininity (exemplified here by roller derby) versus outdated 1950s ideals (beauty pageants). Basically, a movie that seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to sharpen my claws and get the grouch out of my system.

Had I left Whip It anywhere in the first forty five minutes of the movie my preconceived notions would have remained uncomplicatedly intact. But then, somewhere around the one hour mark, something changed. The movie started getting kind of good.

I don’t know if it was the chemistry between the cast members, which included a lot of very funny ladies, or if it was the excitement of seeing the roller derby matches on the big screen. Or maybe it was the soundtrack that mixed indie music favorites with nice emotional pieces, or some combination of all these factors coming together in just the right way. Whatever happened over the course of the film, I found myself really getting into it, and I walked out with a smile on my face.

Despite my mid-feature change of heart, however, I cannot honestly say that it was an especially good movie. I did enjoy parts of it because it’s fun to watch roller derby and to hear smart, quirky dialogue performed by big name actresses. But the movie was actually pretty guilty of all that it seemed to be after viewing the previews, and my excited enjoyment of it faded after I left the theater.

The bottom line is that I remain uncomfortable and bored with mainstream film’s assumption that teenage girls are always looking for some dreamboat boy to hold hands with while going against their parents’ wishes and painting the town red. Instead of hinting around at woman for woman desire in every other scene, maybe we could actually just have a character or two who are, indeed, actual girlfriends and not just “girlfriends.” It was a smidge heartbreaking for me to watch the slow motion sudden hopefulness scene that happens when Ellen Page’s character sees the roller derby girls for the first time. Because I knew right away that even though it was set up to resemble a romantic love at first sight type moment, we were probably going to be asked to pretend that Page’s character is in love with the roller derby, and not with the women themselves.

Of course my expectations are absurdly out of line with the way Hollywood works, especially when it comes to PG-13 movies aimed at teenage girls. But is it wrong to hope for, and maybe even start asking for a representation of something beyond the girl meets boy scenario we’re so often served?