Drew Barrymore Couldn't Make It...

NYU had a free screening for Drew Barrymore's "ferocious" directorial debut yesterday at the Cantor Film Center.  My friend and I waited for two hours to see it, even when this stupid security guard told us we were wasting out time waiting. Well...look who's laughing now!!!! Well...no one actually but that's not my point. The point is that I saw 'Whip It' for free and got some SWAG. (Stuff We All Get).

When I first saw the trailer for for "Whip It" I was exceedingly excited/annoyed as I wished that I had written it first. Roller Derby is a fascinating subject and the costumes and names are so ridiculous and delicious. Ellen Page is perfectly cast as typical clueless teen Bliss who's overpowering mother is way too into the pageant scene. She eventually gets wrapped up in the fast-paced hardcore world of Roller Derby becoming 'Babe Ruthless'. Alia Shawkat is lovely in the best friend role...but when will this girl get a lead? She's so good! Oh well, at least there's the Arrested Development Movie to look forward to!

Drew Barrymore and Kristen Wiig are two of my heroes in the entertainment business (along with Tina Fey) and so they don't need to wear bad ass outfits and act tough to make me stand in awe of them. Every time Drew is onscreen as Smashley Simpson, she is beating someone up, sticking her tongue out or laughing in that nasally Barrymore way. I just love her and she unabashedly gave herself the best part in the whole movie.

Kristen Wiig is the voice of reason in the film acting as a catalyst for change in the film when Bliss confesses to her that she's her new hero. "Put some skates on, be your own hero" Wiig says as 'Maggie Mayem'.

The Roller Derby sequences were by far the best part of the movie, well choreographed, fun and nerve wracking, they made me want to jump back into my roller skates and do some figure eights in Union Square. The costumes and player names were all uber-creative and I can just imagine a bunch of silly gals sitting around trying to come up with them. I came up with my Derby name just now: Aphro Bite Me...like Aphrodite get it?

The love story in the movie was one of the weaker points in my opinion, Landon Pigg (Of 'Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop' Fame) plays Oliver, Bliss's tall skinny rocker suitor. She thinks that possibly maybe she's falling for him...but she's only 17 in the flick and he's obviously much older and not that cool and...whatever. Roller Derby rocks.

The only time I could tell that this was Barrymore's first time as a director was during the opening sequence which seemed a bit choppy to me. It took me a few minutes to get into the whole atmosphere of the film. I also became very wary when Bliss and Oliver began talking about their weird music taste...it started to feel a bit 'Juno'. Luckily, they snapped out of it as quickly as they snapped into it.

Well, I'm not a hardcore feminist by any means...I enjoy it when guys open doors for me and save me when I'm trapped in castle towers surrounded by fire breathing dragons and moats of slime. But in this day of Judd Apatow-male-dominated comedies, I'm super happy that Drew, Ellen, Alia and Kristen can make us laugh just as hard.