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Whip It-3/10
Ellen Page is undeniably cute, but she looks (is) young enough that I can't look at her without feeling like an incredible perv. Many of the other girls look pretty good in the roller derby outfits, but not enough eye candy to make up for the rest of the movie.
Barrymore's directing is pedestrian at best. I imagine since she has so much money we'll be forced to sit through another one of her outings at some point in the future, but she just has no eye for anything. The shots just aren't interesting. I can't understand how you make a sport that (as far as I can tell) involves attractive girls not wearing much skating around a rink beating each other up boring, but this movie managed it in spades.
The plot is equally basic and pretty much telegraphed with the first 15 minutes.
The only things that save this movie are a FEW of the performances. Page acquits herself well with what she has, as does her father, and her best friend is played by Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development) who has grown up a lot and does a great job with her part.
Maybe if you really like and understand roller derby you'll like this movie more, but I kind of doubt it.
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