I recently re-watched Woody Allen's 1979 masterpiece Manhattan and it is a film that still astounds me with its frank and forthright approach to the twisted melee of love. The comedy is acerbic at times and firmly placed as Allen's most truthful picture, and as a director he has never surpassed the monochrome beauty in capturing his favourite love, New York. To think he wwas ready to pay off studio execs so the film would never see the light of day astounds me still. Especially when the same man has recently made 'Whatever Works', a film so appaling that all reels of the film should be given an excorcism. First of all for all his good work in improv comedy Larry David just cannot act, and the man dies a slow painful death onscreen. Of course it is not helped when he is given lines so limp they need support bandages ("Let's face it, our marriage hasn't been a garden of roses. Botanically speaking, you are more of a Venus Flytrap" being the pick of the bunch). Theres no doubting Allen is a funny man but sadly this has not really come across in film since the whole Soon Yi business. The only truly great film he has directed since the 80's has been Sweet & Lowdown and it was a gently told story of a jazz guitarist whose demons overtook him. He's had many interesting films since the 80's but they have not been solely comedic in tone. However seeing as the man is 74 we should be glad he is still around to give us hope that one day he will make another true masterpiece. Waiting for that will be easy in a world where he has given us at least five bona fide masterpieces and about fifteen more great films. Shame Whatever Works has to exist on the same filmography as Manhattan or Sleeper though.
Now for my vote for the cheesiest and most surprisingly fun film of the year. Drum Roll.......It has to be 'Whip It', the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. The film stars Ellen Page as Bliss Cavendar, a misfit teen forec by her mother to compete in beauty pageants. She and her friend Pash (the excellent Alia Shawkat) both as desperate to leave their small Texan town. Pash has dreams of going to an Ivy League University but Bliss has no idea what she wants beyond escape. That is until she finds out about a roller derby on a shopping trip to Austin. After going to one and falling in love with it she enrols in tryouts and gets selected to be a member of the 'Hurl Scouts', the perennial losers of the roller deby league. Spurred on in her new life as 'Babe Ruthless' she helps her team to grow from a ragtag group happy to be "second out of two" to a polished squad ready to do battle with the big guns of roller derby.
At heart the film is the typical underdog sports story but the use of roller derby and female protaganists sets it out from the rest of the pack. T be honest if you'd have heard the plot of the film you'd be forgiven for thinking Ben Affleck had found a follow up for Dodgeball but the oddness of roller derby is quickly forgotten about and the adrenaline of the whole proceedings take centre stage. Barrymore shows great enthusiasm for the sport and it's characters and really comes out of this with many plaudits. She has made a film with great action, some terrific performances (Page is soild as ever but Juliette Lewis as her rival Iron Maven is wonderful and Barrymore herself shows off her comedy chops as the wonderfully monickered Smaslee Simpson) and real heart behind the action. The scenes Page shares with Shawkat and her parents, played by Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern are handled with a gossamer touch, never going over the top and being all the more authentic for that. Sadly there has to be a love interest and the one between Bliss and musician Oliver is contrived, pretentious and in the scene where she loses her virginity to him, it's rather hateful, grinding the film to a halt and putting a sad black mark over Page's character (why should she fall for such a cliche?). However the relationship dwindles and so does the memory of it and we're left with a great final third, culminating in the big final, which coincides with a big beauty pageant!Oh no, whats going to happen?
Ok, the plot is not original but it's the performances, a sharp script and a fine turn behind the camera from Barrymore that sets its apart from most of the fodder that passes for sports films. Take a chance on this film and you are in for a true treat.
Whatever Works: 0/5
Whip It: 4/5
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