Movie Review: “Whip It”

By The Reel Pretty Staff

CREATED on Oct 10 2009

Ellen Page, who became a sensation due to her role as a pregnant teen in Juno once again plays a wiser-than-her-years character in the Drew Barrymore-directed Whip It.

Page plays 17-year-old Bliss Cavender, a Texas lass striving for her own individuality, despite pressure to conform. Her mother Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden), an ex-beauty queen, is gearing her to also go the pageant route and dad Earl (Daniel Stern) is pretty much a part of the small town status quo. They love their daughter, but have a locked-in mindset and can’t seem to see outside the box. However, Bliss has a rebellious streak that longs for expression. When she finds out about try-outs for The Hurl Scouts, a girl’s roller derby team, she gives it a whirl and gets picked to become member.

Naturally, Bliss has to lie to her conservative parents, so that they don’t know that she’s at roller derby practice, and she still must keep up the pretense of pleasing them by preparing for the pageant gig. It’s clear, though, which activity she really has a genuine passion for and you can easily empathize with her frustration.

The complications escalate as Bliss and the roller derby team get more exposure, due to winning more games, and romance enters her life in the form of Oliver, a rocker boyfriend. She is conflicted about choosing between her more empowered status as a roller derby star and her allegiance to her family. This inner battle is the true heart of this movie and is what will endear her to the teen girls likely to flock to this flick.

Predictably, Bliss does manage to bring things to a satisfactory resolution and everything works out for the heroine’s best, just as you figured it would. You don’t mind the predictability, though, because Whip It is such a pleasurable film to watch, with excellent performances by Page, Harden Stern and the rest of the cast which includes Alia Shawkat, Landon Pigg, Zoe Bell, Kristen Wiig, and hiphop artist Eve.

Drew Barrymore should definitely be given her props for such a wonderful directorial debut. Who’d have ever guessed she had it in her?

After a slew of awful, brain-zapping teen films that have been spit out lately, it’s nice to see a coming-of-age movie that is actually-gasp!- intelligent. Whip It is inspiring without being preachy.

Profanity is mild and there are a few sexual references, but this should be fairly decent for teens to digest.