Word: blissfully
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Helen, whose vapidity and self-satisfaction embody the concept of ignorant bliss, serves as one of two models for Jenny as she contemplates her future life. The other is her bookish teacher, Ms. Stubbs, played by Olivia Williams (who essentially reprises her role as Rosemary Cross in another coming-of-age classic, “Rushmore?...
...Having Bliss become a queen of the Austin roller derby circuit certainly wasn't on Brooke's agenda either. But while mother and daughters are enjoying a girls' outing to a clothing/head shop in Austin - "pretty vases!" Brooke says approvingly to a case full of bongs - a trio of tattoo-ed and pierced women roll in on skates, mugging maniacally as they pass out flyers for the next weekend's derby. Most teenage girls would have taken refuge from these R. Crumb-style creatures behind the Doc Martens display but not Bliss. She is enraptured. (See the top 10 female...
...only person who knows what Bliss is up to is her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat), who doesn't mind covering some of her shifts at the Oink Joint, either for the sake of the derby or Bliss's budding romance with a hipster boy from a band, Oliver (played by musician Landon Pigg). "It's a great name," Bliss sighs, her usual reserve shattered by Oliver's protruding hip bones and fervent attentions. "Yeah, if you like wayfaring Dickensian orphans," Pash says wryly. Her cynicism sets the tone for how we feel about the romance, and Barrymore's sweetly...
...sports movie is such that we know we're going to have to sit through some defeats, some victories and a championship match, which of course turns out to be scheduled for the same night as one of Bliss' beauty pageants. Barrymore does a capable job with these action sequences, although tiny little Page is not the likeliest of derby contenders and the sport has such a cartoon aspect that it seems about as likely to become a national craze as Barrymore's Toronto hair style...
...excels with people. Wiig, rapidly proving to be a solid actress and not just a comedian, has some memorable scenes, as does Shawkat, just coming off a radically different role in Amreeka. The relationships between Bliss and both her parents in particular are nuanced and very vivid. In every scene Harden reminds us that she is, deservedly, an Oscar winner, and Page manages to transcend the dangerous trap of her Juno role and make Bliss very much her own person. When Harden and Page are together on screen, whether feuding or struggling to understand each other, we're riveted...