Bang On!: Drew Barrymore's Whip It (2009)

One of the most entertaining, inspiring and downright joyous American films of the past several years, Drew Barrymore’s Whip It (2009) is one of the great should have been blockbusters in recent memory and it’s a shame that more film goers haven’t embraced it. Armed with a clever and moving screenplay by Shauna Cross (who adapted it from her own book Derby Girl), a wonderful cast and sharp direction from Barrymore, Whip It is a stirring coming of age film that is equal parts funny, knowing and insightful.





Teenage outsider Bliss Cavendar can’t seem to find any sort of direction in her hometown of Bodeen, Texas and she spends most of days with her best-friend Pash at a local restaurant where they both work. Bliss, who is burdened with a caring but over-ambitious mother and a gentle but too laid-back father, begins to discover herself when she joins an Austin Roller-Derby team called the Hurl Scouts. Re-christened Babe Ruthless by her teammates, and new friends, Bliss becomes a star of the team and begins to figure out just who she really is, even if that means going against her mother’s wishes of her attending an ivy-league school and becoming the ‘proper’ woman she never was.







Cross had adapted her novel Derby Girl as a screenplay back in 2007 but had trouble getting it picked up by any studios, even though it came across the desk of several. The script found a home in 2008 when Drew Barrymore fell in love with the material and optioned it with Mandate Pictures and her own company Flower Films. One of the most beloved actors of the past few decades, Barrymore had been long been interested in stepping behind the camera for a change and, with Derby Girl, she finally found the perfect material for her first directorial gig.




Drew Barrymore was extremely hands on during the post-production for Derby Girl, now entitled Whip It, and was pivotal in selecting both the film’s cast and soundtrack (she would eventually call the selection of songs her own mix-tape for her fans) and it was clear from the get-go that she had more than enough dedication and passion to make up for her inexperience behind the camera. Nervous Mandate executives had no need to worry about Barrymore as a director though as she excelled working with her actors and crew and proved to be an economical and efficient first-time filmmaker. Also, even though she was working from someone else's material, Barrymore managed to connect Whip It to her own life and background, a move that makes the film feel intensely personal...which it no doubt is to Barrymore.





Whip It is serviced greatly by a superlative cast made up of solid character actors and newcomers, many of whom heard about the film via personal phone calls from Barrymore inviting them to come aboard. Seasoned actors such as Marcia Gay Harden, Daniel Stern and Juliette Lewis jumped at the chance to work on Barrymore’s first film as a director and several of Drew’s friends such as Kristen Wiig, Jimmy Fallon (who had proven so memorable with Drew in the fantastic Fever Pitch from a few years before) and stunt woman extraordinaire Zoe Bell were also brought on board for able support. Barrymore, who cast herself as the delightfully named Smashley Simpson, also snagged two of the most promising newcomers around, Alia Shawkat (who had proven so wonderful on Arrested Development) and Nashville born singer Landon Pigg for her Whip It, but the film’s success would ultimately rest on the shoulders of the 21 year old Ellen Page as Bliss, who is wonderfully moving and poetic throughout the film.







Ellen Page had been acting since the late nineties but she didn’t really begin getting deserved attention until her startling turn in 2005’s Hard Candy, a shocking film that showed Page as a powerhouse talent in the making. That promise was solidified with Page’s remarkable turn in Juno, for which she received a well-deserved Oscar nomination as Best Actress in 2007 (an award which I think she should have won). Whip It should have solidified Ellen Page as one of the premiere actors of her generation but an unfortunate Juno backlash had already set in by the time Barrymore’s film failed to captivate audiences upon its release, leaving Page’s wonderful performance nearly completely overlooked. No matter though as Whip It has future cult-classic written all over it and Ellen Page’s work driving it will eventually be recognized.







While Whip It is very much an actor’s film, Barrymore’s direction guides the work with a confident, and refreshingly unshowy, hand throughout. Unlike so many actors turned directors Drew never makes the mistake of trying to upstage the material and, with Whip It, she shows herself as a smart and subtle filmmaker with a real confidence in Cross’ script and her fabulous cast. Her direction is both stylish and relaxed and when she does take visual chances (such as the breathtaking underwater sequence between Page and Pigg) she does so with a real intelligence and vivacity.





To help on her first feature, Barrymore wisely chose one of her favorite cinematographers along and (frequent Wes Anderson collaborator) Robert Yeoman proved to be an ideal choice as Whip It is wonderfully vibrant looking and colorful. As if Yeoman’s credentials weren’t enough, frequent Paul Thomas Anderson editor Dylan Tichenor was also on Barrymore's team and his cutting skills help Whip It breeze along at a wonderfully balanced pace that is especially gripping during the exciting Roller Derby sequences.




I have seen Whip It several times since its limited release in the fall of 2009 and I can’t for the life of me understand why it wasn’t a huge hit. While the film did receive mostly positive reviews, audiences mostly just stayed away and the relatively extra-free DVD and Blu-ray release hasn’t captured enough folks attention either. Whip It is one of those get behind it films and I harbor the hope it will eventually get the attention it deserves, as it is a very special work with a lot of heart, passion and style.




While Whip It was not the hit it deserved to be Drew Barrymore has thankfully not given up on directing and she is currently rumored to be planning her follow-up feature How to be Single. I highly recommend Whip It to anyone who perhaps hasn’t given it a look yet. It’s a lovely little film filled with the kind of charm and soul that has been distinctly apparent in Drew Barrymore’s career for the past thirty years. It’s the kind of film I always imagined that little girl I felt like I grew up with would make and it’s one of my favorite American films in recent memory.

Drew Barrymore's Whip It: The Trailer

I know I am not the only one my age who literally feels like they grew up with Drew Barrymore. After all, I have been a fan since I saw E.T. at theaters in 1982 when I was nine years old, and I clearly recall the stickers of Drew I had on my elementary school folders. I'm still a huge fan of her work and have found her career one of modern American films most inspiring, so I am extremely excited she has decided to take a shot a directing.



This is the trailer to Whip It, Drew's first film as a director...a roller derby epic no less starring Ellen Page as a character delightfully named Bliss Cavendar. Drew herself co-stars as Smashley Simpson and the film also features Arrested Development's great Alia Shawkat, Marcia Gay Harden, Zoe Bell and several terrific SNL alumni. The film looks terrifically funny and fresh, and the image of Drew doing research by watching seventies works like Kansas City Bomber and Unholy Rollers gives me great joy. Whip It comes out in early October and I hope it is a big success for one of modern cinema's most loved and admired figures.

Juno (And Vanessa)

SPOILER ALERT: Please don't read if you haven't had a chance to watch JUNO yet.

There is a real pivotal moment in Diablo Cody's script for JUNO that is easily missed if the audience isn't paying close attention. It is a quick bit of dialogue involving the character of Vanessa, a role played absolutely beautifully by Jennifer Garner, in which we learn that this isn't the first time she has attempted to adopt a baby. Cody's clever and it's only mentioned once. It isn't completely clear as to what fell through with the first adoption, but it sounds like the mother backed out at the last minute. It also isn't clear as to whether it has happened just once, but it goes a long way in explaining why the character of Vanessa is so deeply racked with nervousness about Juno and the adoption.
It is a real tricky thing naming your script after one character. The audience is immediately looking to that character as the most important key to the film because of it. While I am not suggesting that the character of Juno isn't a key to the film, I think a more apt title would by JUNO AND VANESSA as to me Cody's work is really telling the story of two women and not one.

I've seen JUNO twice now and I think its a wonderfully written and performed film. I have seen some backlash against Cody's script because of the dialogue and patterns of speech but I was never bothered by it. We are in Cody's world in the film, just as we are in a Mamet film or a Tarantino picture, and I haven't seen anyone claiming JUNO to be the work of a strict realist. Cody's dialogue and timing works perfectly well in the world of JUNO, which is all that it needs to do. Is it the way people talk on a daily basis? No, but really why should that bother me? Her script is filled with more subtlety and emotion than almost any other this year and it should be celebrated as much as the amazing performances in the film.
I must admit that I feel a bit like I have seen a different film than most people have when it comes to JUNO. I have read a lot focusing on the relationship between Juno and Michael Sera's character Paulie Bleeker but the most interesting relationship in the film to me is the unspoken bond that develops between Juno and Vanessa. The key moment of the film in my eyes isn't the last shot where we see Juno and Deeker together and happy, but is instead the remarkable moment when we see the note Juno gave Vanessa framed where her family picture was going to go above her new babies crib.
I really don't know much about Jennifer Garner. I have seen exactly one episode of ALIAS and have only seen her in one other film, THE KINGDOM from earlier this year. I was frankly mesmerized by her in JUNO though. This isn't the kind of work we see much in Hollywood. It belongs to a much more European tradition of suggesting rather than showing, and Garner's work as Vanessa is a major performance. In just a few scenes with probably the least amount of dialogue given to a character in the film, Garner manages to convey that Vanessa is someone who can't have children, is being forced to care for a man who won't grow up and who literally feels like her entire world is in the hands of this odd little girl that has come into her life.
JUNO is ultimately about the connection that these two women make together. It is a silent one, but it is one that will affect them long after the men in their life have faded from memory. The note that Juno hands to Vanessa towards the end of this film cements the bond between them and it is one of the most remarkable moments I have seen in a film in a very long time.
None of this is meaning to discredit the other story lines in the film, or the performances by the male actors. The relationship between Juno and Bleeker is sweet and I like Michael Sera a lot (even though he has so far just played variations of his George Michael character from ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and nothing else) and certainly Jason Bateman as Vanessa's husband Mark gives a wonderful and complex performance as a man who isn't quite ready to commit to adulthood.

Still, it is Juno and Vanessa that I keep coming back to. It is rare in modern Hollywood to see such an unspoken bond between two female characters and both Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner portray this beautifully. Watch the scene between the two of them in the mall and look at the understanding that is between them when the baby finally kicks for Vanessa. You won't see better acting by two performers in a film this year.
Ellen Page will get an Oscar nomination for JUNO and I am willing to bet she will surprise everyone and win the Golden Globe in a week. I think she deserves it but my favorite performance in the film, and truth be told of the year, is the work of Jennifer Garner. Her supporting work as Vanessa moved me like no one else in what was a surprisingly strong year in American cinema. Kudos to both Garner and Cody for having the intelligence to deliver such a strong and complex character in the most subtle way imaginable.