Since making her debut on the late night sketch series Saturday Night Live in 2005, Kristen Wiig has become one of the biggest names in comedy. She became a superstar on SNL practically overnight, gaining fame and acclaim for her endless series of wacky, over-the-top characters. And, truth be told, I've been a little hard on Wiig in the past; her performances lapse too quickly into cartoonish mugging and rely too heavily on a) making a "funny" face and b) doing a "funny" voice. All the characters tend to run together, and Wiig's comedy becomes too predictable.
It makes me happy to say, then, that Wiig is capable of much more, as evidenced by her performance in the 2009 roller derby comedy Whip It, now arriving on DVD and Blu-ray. While the film itself rarely breaks from convention -- it's a pretty formulaic, but energetic, sports comedy punctuated by the standard romantic comedy beats -- Wiig's performance is genuinely surprising and one of Whip It's many bright spots. She demonstrates that she's capable of subtlety and nuance (two things missing from her SNL work) and could even have a future as a dramatic actress. That's not to say she isn't funny in Whip It -- she is -- but that she carries a surprising amount of weight in the film and acquits herself particularly well in the dramatic moments. While not quite a revelation (that would be overselling it), Wiig is a truly pleasant surprise.
The Story
The film stars Ellen Page (of Juno fame) as Bliss, an unhappy waitress in the small town of Bodeen, Texas. When she happens to catch a glimpse of a roller derby team one night, she's instantly hooked. Bliss secures herself a spot on the Hurl Scouts, a team that includes ladies with names like Smashley Simpson (Drew Barrymore, who also marks her directorial debut with Whip It), Bloody Holly (Zoe Bell) and Maggie Mayhem (Wiig). Now, Bliss (re-dubbed Babe Ruthless) has to try and juggle her burgeoning roller derby career with her new romance (with wooden musician Landon Pigg), all while hiding her secret life from her pageant-queen mother (a very good Marcia Gay Harden). What's a girl to do? Oh, right. Put on skates and smash into other girls.
In addition to a strong dramatic turn by Wiig, the movie attempts to get some comic support from Jimmy Fallon (who teamed with Barrymore before, in the under-appreciated sports romance Fever Pitch). Fallon, as roller derby announcer Hot Tub Johnny, has a thankless task: he's got to breathlessly explain all of the rules of roller derby to an unfamiliar audience while still shoehorning in as much comic relief as possible during his play-by-play. Unfortunately, Fallon can't really deliver on the comedy side -- and I say this as someone who likes Jimmy Fallon. Not helping matters is the fact that it doesn't appear Fallon worked much with the rest of the cast; it's pretty clear that he came in and shot nearly all of his scenes after the fact and was mainly cut into the action with the magic of editing.
At the end of the day, Whip It isn't going to change anyone's life. It's a good 25 minutes too long and unevenly paced (and Barrymore would have been wise to drop the entire romantic subplot), but it's also got a lot of energy, a ton of likable performers and is exceptionally well-acted for a film this seemingly light. The actors all elevate the film well above what it otherwise might have been -- particularly Page, Harden and, of course, Kristen Wiig. The movie suggests that Drew Barrymore does indeed have a directing career ahead of her, and that may be what it's best remembered for. For many of us, though, it's going to be better remembered as the film that finally showed what Kristen Wiig could do with the right material (another former SNL cast member, Maya Rudolph, has a similar breakout role in last year's Away We Go). She's the real deal, not just a goofball on a sketch comedy. I suspect that Whip It marks the beginning of the next phase of Wiig's career.
The Whip It Blu-ray looks and sounds terrific (do we expect anything less from the technology?). It's short on extra features, which is a disappointment. I would have like a director's commentary from Barrymore -- or, better yet, a commentary the reunited all of the Hurl Scouts to watch the film together. As it stands, we get only a handful of deleted scenes and a short featurette on Shauna Cross, the author (and real-life Bliss) of the book that Whip It is based on.
Blu-ray Details
- Release Date: 1/26/10
- Running Time: 111 Minutes
- Rated PG-13 (for sexual content including crude dialogue, language and drug material)
- 2.40:1 Non-Anamorphic/1080p
- DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio (English)/5.1 Digital (French, Spanish)
- English SDH, French subtitles
Blu-ray Bonus Features
- Deleted Scenes and Alternate Opening
- Fox Movie Channel "Writer's Draft" Featurette
- Digital Copy
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
