By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Drew Barrymore
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Drew Barrymore | Elliot Page (as Ellen Page) | Juliette Lewis | Kristen Wiig | Marcia Gay Harden
Country: united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 111
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172233/
Thom says: “For all the world I thought this was going to be a box office smash due to the general nature of the story and the great big “Hollywood” presence of the production. But the public reception to the film since it opened nation-wide is tepid at best. Toronto was inundated with sexy roller derby lady skaters all over the downtown area during the days of screening. This was the 1st feature-length film for director Barrymore but there are no ‘1st film’ jitters typical of other initial directors, probably due to her ‘A-list’ connections in the business. At any rate this is the story of a discontented high school girl who decides to pursue her dream of becoming a Roller Derby star. The story is a cookie-cutter one although the spirited execution is real enough and the acting universally high-quality. I know I’ll get bombed for saying this but as adorable as she is I’m finding that Ellen Page hasn’t shown a great deal of range in her work. I’m happy she’s a big A-list star now but she’s getting parts that don’t stretch her as an actress. 4 cats”