5/5 Rolling Skating OVER Stereotypes
  by D. L. Lewis (Prairie's Edge, CO)
Contact sport and girls, yet the men in this movie hardly play a diminished role. For the ladies there is no pandering, or fainting, or feigning but the women display all the machismo of male athletics without all of the overly serious attitudes which are so much connected with big money. Instead, they compete for the fun and pride of it without any apology. They wear their bruises and sweat like medals.

In short the story that this movie superbly and entertainingly tells is the new one that says women are every bit as competitive and competent as men and without the nurturing that men receive, such as in this culture boys are nurtured to go into contacts sports, and when they get hurt not cry. Notice, "every bit as" not "more than". Women don't have to be more than, they can, however, expect to be equal and this movie depicts that winesomely.

The relational conflict between the main character and her mother reflects this gender bias on an even different level and takes it one step further - into the arena of healing, respect, and understanding. Good for you Drew Barrymore for making this movie your directorial debute!

The icing on the cake is when the girl found then lost boy, and boy was that good! When all things were put into perspective, the boy was simply a distraction - pleasant as that was and no apologies given for pleasure either - how refreshing. The girl needed to lose the boy so that she could find her own mojo. Bottom line, the girl can get a new boy.

The only true comparison to formula in this movie - because this story took sterotypes and turned them on their ear - is the male sports movie. This time, the girl and the girls get what the men in aforementioned formula sports stories got. Bravo and Bravo! A superb story and an outstanding sports movie.

4/5 Great cast and energy overcome a pile of cliches
  by RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States)
WHIP IT is a great example of how perfect casting and an infectious enthusiasm can overcome a many problems in a film. In the case of Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, those problems are primarily an exceedingly predictable plot and occasional sketchy characterizations.

The star of the show is Ellen Page as a highschooler nearing graduation with no idea what she wants to do to get out of her depressing Texas small-town. For years, her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) has dragged her through the beauty pageant circuit, but it's clear that Page takes NO joy in it. She works at a diner with her best friend ("Arrested Development's" Alia Shawkat...and is mostly just shuffling through life. One day, she finds a flyer advertising a roller derby taking place in the city...and she decides to go. Clearly, something has struck her interest...and when she sees what the game is all about, a fire is lit within her. She tries out for the team, makes it, and naturally, becomes a bit of a sensation. Will her team rise from last place to a season-ending confrontation with their bitter rivals? Will her mother eventually discover her secret and be deeply hurt by it? Will there be some romance, some laughter and some tears?

What do you think?

But director Barrymore has been blessed with a stellar cast. First of all, she has cast herself in a minor role as a roller girl. Barrymore herself is one of the more charming and infectious performers around. She is not so much a great ACTOR as she is an engaging person to spend two hours with. It would seem that her own personality infused everyone in the film. Her filming of the action sequences is hardly earth-shattering, and sometimes the pacing of the story flags a little bit

Ellen Page, playing sassy, wry but not nearly as smart as JUNO...seems somewhat liberated by this crazy role, which allows her to skate a lot, kick some butt and essentially play a hero that's right in her comfort zone. She is a wonderful actor, and while WHIP IT is a film of modest ambition...she still manages to elevate it by her very presence.

But almost everyone else is strong as well. Marcia Gay Harden works well, because her character is the one that seems sapped of energy and excitement. She is the mother who clearly had bigger dreams for herself than what her life delivered (another cliché) and she lives vicariously through the accomplishments of her daughters (another cliché). Harden has always been good at this kind of attitude...although it's rare to see her in a lower-middle-class role...but she keeps it simple and believable. Daniel Stern plays her husband...it feels like years since I've seen him in anything, and I really liked him as the "good-ole-boy" father...a man who doesn't really understand the women in his life, but isn't afraid to let them know he loves them unconditionally, and that he's there for them when the going gets tough.

Shawkat is loads of fun as Page's best friend. And the roller derby team itself is filled with wacky characters...but Kristen Wiig (who, on "Saturday Night Live" can play some deeply unlikable and disturbing characters) shines as a relatively normal single-mom who offers some words of wisdom to Page at a key moment (another cliché). She gives a grounded, generous performance. I've really come to like her in movies...where frequently on SNL she is simply off-putting. Zoë Bell (the great stuntwoman from Tarantino's DEATH PROOF) simply bursts with energy. And the frightening looking Juliette Lewis plays the "villain" of the other team...but even she finds a few new things to bring to an essentially cardboard character.

So we've got lots of cookie-cutter characters doing many predictable things. Yet it all works remarkably well because the cast if fully invested in making WHIP IT a blast. I went in hoping to have a good time, and I left not the least disappointed. It put a smile on my face almost immediately, and it mostly stayed there all evening. That, quite frankly, is a very welcome accomplishment for Barrymore and company.


4/5 Drew Barrymore and Ellen Paige - a dynamic duo
  by Ferdy (Georgia, USA)
A misfit Texas teen whose mother has dreams of beauty pageant glory in mind finds her niche when she discovers Roller Derby. It's a wacky premise for a movie but it is one of the best coming of age films I've seen in a while.
Ellen Paige shines, as she always seems to do, as Bliss, the 17 yr. old from Bodeen, TX who works part time at the Oink Joint (wearing a pink pig apron, no less). Bliss is failing miserable at being the debutante beauty queen he mother wants her to be. Then, one day while shopping in Austin, she discovers the sport of women's roller derby. It's a match made in heaven and Bliss makes the team.
Her team mates consist of tough but good hearted women with stage names like Smashley Simpson and Bloody Holly. They make life hard for her until she proves her mettle.
The movie is just a lot of fun kind of like a girl's night out with your BFF's. It also has its touching moments and there's a little romance as well. Drew Barrymore did a great job directing and she's quite a character as a tough but ditzy roller derby chick.
There's a little foul language and drinking/sexual references so not for the younger ones. I'd say 12-13 would be the youngest I'd take to see it.
So, for a good time at the movies just Whip It! You'll be glad you did.

4/5 Every girl deserves her bliss
  by R. Kyle (USA)
Getting your first set of wheels is quite a coming of age, but most people who think in terms of wheels have a motor vehicle on their minds. In Bliss Cavendar's (Ellen Page of "Juno") those wheels are a pair of roller skates.

When we first see young Bliss, she's competing in the Bluebonnet Pageant at the direction of her Mom (Marcia Gay Harden). Bliss has got some pretty big shoes to fill since Mom won and her little sister seems to be destined to go all the way in pageantland.

But, tiaras and talent contests aren't really what Bliss is about. A shopping trip to Austin, TX changes her life when she meets a bunch of roller derby girls. She's invited to try out and lies about her age (she has to be 21) to do so. Even on her old Barbie skates, she's fast enough to make it.

And Babe Ruthless is born. Timid at first, Bliss gradually gets in the groove. Big surprise, her team The Hurl Scouts is no longer settling for losing the game. There's a lot of humor and heart in this story and many of us are seeing a sport that we don't often encounter in a way that changes a lot of perspectives on it and the young women who engage in it.

Shauna Cross's YA novel bearing the same name translated really well into a great young adult film capable of following in "Juno's" very large shoes. Their producer, Drew Barrymore, who also appears as "Smashley Simpson" one of Bliss's team members.

If you loved "Juno" and Ms. Page's witty performance, you are at least going to like this film. Maybe not for pageant moms, but the message is strong -- every young girl deserves her 'bliss' whether it's wearing a tiara or a pair of skates.

Rebecca Kyle, October 2009

4/5 The heroine's journey
  by L. Power (San Francisco)
I totally enjoyed Ellen Page in her Academy Award nominated role in Juno (Single-Disc Edition). Here again she demonstrates extraordinary acting presence, playing the role of the heroine, showing that she can whip it real good, demonstrating what an every woman appeal she has, while proving that she is a force that will be with us for a long time.

Whip it explores the rough and tumble world of roller through the lens of a seventeen year old girl looking for a way out of her sheltered existence working as a waitress at the Oink Joint in Bodeen Texas, out of the sheltering but somothering wings of her mother who wants her daughter to live out her dream of winning a beauty pageant.

Some girls rollerskate into the shoe store where she is shopping, and pick up a pamphlet about a roller derby. A little dazzled by them, and filled with a burning curiosity, she picks up a pamphlet and so begins her journey down the rabbit hole, into this new exciting illicit world as different from Bodine as you can imagine, and a secret adventure.

Along the way she has many trials and tribulations, makes new friends, and ultimately must choose between fulfilling her mother's dream or her own dream.

After seeing this movie I would love to go to a roller derby event. In this movie, you will see Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore, Andrew Wilson (Owen Wilson's brother) as the coach, Drew Barrymore, the very talented Kirsten Wiig of SNL, Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden plays the mother, also features Juliette Lewis as her archrival and this is the first movie Drew Barrymore has directed, and she does a tremendous job. An excellent cast that elevates this movie somewhat above the ordinary.

Most young women I feel sure will relate to this heroine story. I don't think there are enough inspiring movies for female teens these days.

I hope you find this helpful. Enjoy the movie.