It should come as no surprise that "Whip It," the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore, veers a bit too far on the precious side. The tagline is "Be Your Own Hero," there's enough giggling to rival a middle-school slumber party, and let's not forget the all-girl food fight set to a symphony. Barrymore has left her fingerprints all over the film, which means you'll want to hug it and smack it simultaneously.
Bliss ("Juno's" Ellen Page) is a laid-back, music-loving teenager living in Bodeen, Texas, who just wants to goof off with her best bud ("Arrested Development's" Alia Shawkat), but her mom (Marcia Gay Harden) keeps forcing her to compete in icky beauty pageants. The only way she can stomach such a thing is to dye her hair bright blue, which she does after losing a dare, before inching her way across the stage. The judges and participants respond with the kind of grimaces generally reserved for Uwe Boll movies. Yeesh, everyone in this town is so uptight.
So imagine her delight when she spots some smiley skater girls handing out flyers for roller derby tryouts in nearby Austin. Female camaraderie comes out swinging as she joins team Hurl Scouts, under the name Babe Ruthless, which includes competitors like fist-throwing Smashley Simpson (Barrymore) and mother figure Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig, playing it semi-straight), under the guidance of discouraged coach Razor (Andrew Wilson). The girls chant things like "We're number two! We're number two!," congratulating themselves on yet another game not well played.
It's all about the journey, not the destination, a message that "Whip It" pounds home enough times to cause a concussion. Yes, it's fun to watch the girls chase their dreams and look great doing so -- "You can never have too much eyeliner or lash blast," they say -- but there's an air of celebrated vapidity throughout. When the film occasionally tries to get deeper, in the form of Bliss' troubled relationship with her mother or her unsatisfying fling with a rocker (Landon Pigg), it feels way out of its comfort zone. That's a shame because Harden's performance is stellar, and Page proves yet again why she's one of the few low-20s Hollywood actresses worth hiring.
"Whip it," adapted by Shauna Cross from her novel "Derby Girl," is sweet-natured and playful but too adorable for its own good -- even with a dose of acidity from Juliette Lewis (welcome back!) as a rival skater. The film will likely resonate with teenage girls who dream of breaking out of their small-town cells and embracing a career that will piss off their parents. The rest of us may need a cocktail to wash down all the cuteness.
