Whip It vs Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist

Cliff: So how long did you wait before you saw Whip It? Opening night? Saturday?

Ryan: I waited a week.

Cliff: A whole week?

Ryan: I know. A Weezer song on the soundtrack, Drew Barrymore directing, Zoe Bell wearing skates. You’d think I’d been there at midnight on Thursday. Too busy.

Cliff: Well? You think it was fun?

Ryan: Yeah. I have to say, Drew Barrymore’s direction is really straightforward and clean. I was expecting it to be more cartoonish, like the Charlie’s Angels movies, with derby girls leaping and flipping in unrealistic ways. And I thought there’d be huge star and heart wipes, or wacky title cards. Honestly, I don’t see anything in terms of visuals or storytelling by, say, Judd Apatow, that I don’t also see from Barrymore. Makes me wonder if she’s done a little uncredited co-directing over the years.

Cliff: And she put together a great cast. Juliette Lewis is one of those actors I didn’t realize I missed, but she’s a great villain, and was completely believable as the chick the others might be intimidated by.

Ryan: Hold up. So you saw it. When exactly did you see it?

Cliff: Friday morning. Dude. Kristin Wiig made a movie with Eve. I was there ASAP.

Ryan: Okay, so we’re on the same page, let’s backtrack a bit. Ellen Page plays the ironically named Bliss—

Cliff:--Yeah, she’s not happy. Har.

Ryan: And she’s stuck in a life of beauty pageants with her much more enthusiastic mother and sister. One night she sneaks off with her friend to the Roller Derby and finds her true calling.

Cliff: Didn’t buy it for a second.

Ryan: Me either. I like that Ellen Page manages to find smart characters, and I think she’s completely unique in Hollywood right now. Well, not completely, we’ll get to that in a bit. But she’s rare: a cute, smart actress that’s not regularly humiliated, exploited, or underemployed. That she managed to find a niche for herself in movies as opposed to television is pretty surprising. And she’s great in Whip It. Great comic timing, believable on the skates…

Cliff: But?

Ryan: Why have the beauty pageant thing to rebel against in the first place? If she’s a smart, bored girl who’s looking for empowerment, do we really need a polar opposite dangled in front of her before we’ll understand it? The juxtaposition of the beauty pageant girls with the roller derby chicks is the clearest indicator that Whip It has its roots in teen fiction.

Cliff: Yeah, it’s a little cut and dried. But no more, really, than any other sports movie. Underdog fights for acceptance, proves herself, saves the day, learns a lesson about teamwork, etc.

Ryan: Yep. We’ve seen it a dozen times. What sets Whip It apart is the casting, soundtrack, and the relative realism of the derby scenes. All of the actresses look like they’re doing most of their own skating, and the rink never looks like a set. My favorites of the derby players were Kristen Wiig and Juliette Lewis, although everyone was funny and tough.

Cliff: I was impressed that Barrymore gave herself such a small part, even though she also gave herself the goofiest part, to compensate.

Ryan: Well, come on. You can’t have all those fun times going on around you and not wanna play along. And she has great taste in music, too.

Cliff: Yeah, I’d say there are, what, thirty songs in Whip It? Forty? A hundred?

Ryan: It sounds like there was a DJ on set and they just left it all in. As competent as Barrymore is as a director, and as fun as I think her movie is, I’d wager she was just as excited to compile the soundtrack as anything else. Hey, there are far worse reasons to make a movie.

Cliff: Which brings us to Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Also based on teen fiction, also containing every song ever, also built around a smart female character, this one played by Kat Dennings. She’s not quite as unlikely a character as Bliss, though, unfortunately. She’s one of those characters we instantly identify as a knock-out, until another character points out that she needs a makeover.

Ryan: Yeah, it never occurred to me for a second that Norah wasn’t the most attractive girl in the movie. She’s at least way too hot for Michael Cera to begin with, and that’s before the gay guys make her put on a better bra.

Cliff: To be fair, she does look better afterward, and it’s not one of those makeovers where suddenly she’s more worthwhile because she has cleavage or took her glasses off or whatever. Kat Dennings is another younger actress who managed to find a role about a smart girl who isn’t a wallflower or a shrew. Of course Michael Cera has the male equivalent of that part, and is dry and funny as well. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist kind of has no plot, but I liked it.

Ryan: Yeah, it’s just this: Two teens develop a crush on each other during an all-night trip through New York clubs looking for a secret concert by their favorite band.

Cliff: That’s what it’s about?

Ryan: Yep.

Cliff: How do we not hate this movie? 

Ryan: I dunno. I liked it quite a bit, actually. Listen, I know it’s ridiculous that teenagers, regardless of where they’re from, could know New York that well, could navigate it that well by car, never have trouble parking or getting into a club. I’m willing to suspend disbelief based on the Jack Bauer rule: you can drive anywhere in however much time you have. If you have less time, you can still get there. I focused more on the dialogue, and the humor of the leads.

Cliff: I appreciate that Nick and Norah are smart and funny, but also self-aware, and call themselves out when necessary. It’s one of the ways in which it pays off that they’re portrayed as wise beyond their years. Every time they took a moment to acknowledge their pretentiousness, it saved me having to do it for them.

Ryan: Yeah, that’s kind of where Nick and Norah trumps Whip It. Nick is a much more interesting foil and match for Norah than the guy they put with Ellen Page.

Cliff: He was just one more obstacle for her to metaphorically jump in her skates.

Ryan: Exactly. Although, Ellen Page gets Alia Shawkat as a best friend, which makes more sense than the girls with whom Norah is supposedly so close. In life, we tend to have friends with similar attitudes and interests, but in movies, it’s like every friend has to be a different personality type and share all opposing views and tastes. Teetotaler, music geek Norah has drunk friends who don’t like music? Okay.

Cliff: Her friend is funny and you know it. The scene with the toilet is the only example of gross-out humor to make me laugh in a long time.

Ryan: Yeah well, put her in skates. Let see how she does.

Whip It: B

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: B