Whip It!

Bliss Cavendar is a seventeen year old teenager who feels like her life has already passed her by. She lives in a small Texas town looking for a big something that will change her life. Feeling trapped in her less than ordinary life, Bliss wants to find a way out from under the thumb of her overbearing mother who pushes her daughter into local beauty pageants as well as forcing her fifties era thinking of the perfect wife and mother. She is the quiet music loving loaner trying to find her niche in the world. After attending a roller derby match in Austin, Texas, Bliss works up the guts to try out for the league and bust out of her ho-hum life. She has a natural talent for skating and earns a spot on The Hurl Scouts team in the Texas Roller Derby League as “Babe Ruthless”. Every time Bliss laces up her skates she grows more confident and self assured. Her new persona of “take no prisoners” and “show no mercy” clashes with her mother’s expectations of a pageant princess and the two fight over Bliss’ desire to be something other than what her parents want for her. She is embraced by the Hurl Scouts while keeping her derby career a secret from her parents. Even her relationship with her best friend is rocked by Bliss’ new roller skating family, and she must find the perfect balance between the shy teenager and raging roller warrior to keep her old and new family in her life.

Whip It marks the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore and proves that her talent isn’t limited to just being in front of the camera. It is an ideal movie for her first outing as a director and she infuses the movie with her carefree and laidback style. It has a little bit of everything from hilarious comedy to the heartfelt scenes between family members; and you can’t leave out the rough and tumble roller derby scenes. Ellen Page plays the lead character Bliss Cavendar and shows she does not need a fake belly to give a noteworthy performance. The always glorious Marcia Gay Harden plays her mother and the scenes between her and Page are dramatic and realistic. All the actors and actresses in this movie seem tailor made for their role and together make an irresistible ensemble anyone would want to be apart of. I was especially impressed with actor Andrew Wilson as the Hurl Scouts’ eccentric coach who is the mastermind behind their plays to success. Juliette Lewis is also a perfect addition as the league’s leading scorer and captain of the rival Holy Roller team. She is edgy and devious as she tries to derail the new rookie phenom from taking her place as the best player. Barrymore also takes on a minor but funny role as fellow Hurl Scout team mate Smashley Simpson.

Sometimes the movie seemed to drag a little here and there, but the rest of the movie makes up for these few instances. Whip It brings the rough and wild life of women’s roller derby to the screen with superb acting and a killer soundtrack also worth the price of admission. It is a wonderful story about the differences between a mother and daughter as the daughter starts to become a woman and wants to make her own decisions for her life. This movie is a showcase of strong and sexy women willing to punch someone in the face while speeding around on roller skates instead of passing their time scrap booking or primping their looks in hopes of a crown. It is a creative and original take on the coming of age story that you will fall in love with, or at least be very, very smitten.