3.

So I went and saw Whip It! (not sure if there’s supposed to be an exclamation there or not) last night, in the comfort of a tiny cinema with a gigantic screen. Why do they always relegate the indie and pseudo-indie films to the ones waaaay at the back of the hall, which require a ten minute trot and toilet break to get there? And don’t even think about going to get snacks half-way (pfft, as if I’d even do that.. I spilt an entire drink on my pants during a screening of Pirates of the Caribbean and I just switched seats to let it dry off instead of missing out on juicy Orlando) or you’ll end up returning when the credits are rolling. But I digress.

To put it simply, Whip It!, was a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining film. It blended the demands of a mainstream comedy and an indie-hit well, and rarely fell into the potholes both paths can contain. It mostly avoided the cliché endings, the too-witty to be realistic instant comebacks and the sappy feel-good relationships. But what I was most proud of was that it was a film about a girl that wasn’t concerned with boyfriends or shoes! Okay, there was a little bit of both but neither was central to the storyline at all. It was a movie about a girl and sport, and not one where she had to prove herself against a bunch of macho-guys or where there’s a clique of ‘mean girls’ to cut her down at every step. There were many sprinkles of riot-grrl and this movie was fast, fun and well-rounded.

It’s not that it was telling us anything groundbreakingly new. Girls are funny. Girls are smart. Girls are tough. Teenage girls have other concerns then just what to wear to school the next day or if the cute boy made eye contact. Anybody with half a brain knows this. But you’d probably be surprised at the lack of movies that depict such females that also aren’t in constant competition with the other women in the movie. There was a real sense of camaraderie between the women in the film, but it wasn’t sappy or sentimental and it didn’t end with them declaring themselves to be BEST FRIENDS FOREVAH!

As Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, it was a good one and hopefully with or without the big box-office returns, it can convince her to continue in this vein of funny empowering films that is entertaining to all the girls and boys of the world. 4/5, bebbe.

P.S. The soundtrack was a killer! But this is a pseudo-indie film, nothing less was expected!

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