Not Complaining, Yeah! (or Whip It! the movie)

I complain on this blog a lot.  I complain out loud in life a lot.  And sometimes I catch myself and wonder where all this negative energy comes from, and then realize oh, duh, me.  So I thought I'd write a post (or maybe even two!) about things I actually like.

As a 22-year-old gal with no kids and steady, mostly disposable income, I like to go to the movies.  I haven't been as much recently (at times, it's been up there to at least 1 time/week), but tonight, dammit, I wanted to see things projected larger than life on a screen.  And I've also been wanting to see Whip It! since the awesome trailer with the awesomely crescendo-ing Pork and Beans Weezer song.  Which is an absolutely perfect song for a climactic trailer, by the way.

(And yes, I know there's no ! in the movie title, but it makes it so much better.  Especially since Jimmy Fallon informed me no less than four times that WHEN YOU WHIP A DERBY GIRL SHE GOES REALLY FAST.  NO SERIOUSLY, FASTER THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.)

Anyway, this movie was awesome.  I was either grinning broadly or crying the whole time, which is a good sign for me.  And really, the ratio for smile:cry was pretty high, so that's good.  Everyone had awesome performances, and I really really hope there is an extended version, because I loved the characters and I wanted more scenes and background on all of them.  Especially Pash (played by the awesome Alia Shawkat, aka Maeby Fuenke), who I like to think is a cuter, more freckled, more awesome me.  Her equivalent to Ellen Page's character's childhood roller skating phase was being a fat kid indoors reading.  THAT IS MY LIFE.  I mean was.  Whatever.

Marcia Gay Harden is always awesome, and while I don't remember seeing Daniel Stern in anything but Home Alone (another favorite), he was also pretty great in this.  Drew Barrymore has done an excellent job directing, and an awesome job of being in the movie, but not taking the spotlight, a la Quentin Tarantino.  This movie also made me no longer annoyed with Ellen Page, which is quite a feat, and really excited for her show with Shawkat.  And (SPOILER?) best pre-sex scene ever.  Everything is better underwater.

So, kudos all around, and I really hope that Drew Barrymore decides to direct more movies, because I will totally see them.  And to all 3 readers out there: go see this movie!  I will gladly go again if anyone needs the company.