Whip It

"So, what are you, like, alternative now?"
"Alternative to what?"

Bliss Cavendar (Page) wants to escape her mediocre life.  She doesn't fit into the beauty pageant life, despite her mother's, Brooke (Harden), best efforts.  While on a shopping trip, she encounters roller derby girls, and talks her best friend, and ivy league hopeful, Pash (Shawkat) into going to a roller derby game.  Bliss is captivated by the women and plans to tryout for the team.

At the tryouts her skating skills impress the coach, Razor (Wilson) of the Hurl Scouts, the last place team in the league.  Her speed makes her ideal to be a jammer, pass all members of the other team first to get points.  Bliss is too timid to fight her way through the pack, so she chooses the moniker "Babe Ruthless" to help her get in the right mindset.  With some guidance from the team: motherly team captain Maggie Mayhem (Wiig), unhinged  / eccentric Smashley Simpson (Barrymore), etc, Bliss starts to take control of her own life.  She lies to her parents, lies about her age, and changes her work schedule to fit the team practices.  Can she keep up her double life, and get the guy (Pigg)?


Drew Barrymore's directorial debut.  This film was adapted from Shauna Cross' novel "Derby Girl," which is based on her experiences in roller derby.  I haven't read the book, but am interested in seeing how it differs from the film.

Barrymore does well behind the camera, coaxing great performances out of the cast, while still popping on screen in a small but memorable part.  Ellen Page continues to impress.  She does not default to overly girly, needy teenage girls, she keeps rocking the quirky, independent chicks.  Bliss is an interesting character, that adds to her film resume.  Kristen Wiig, best known for her numerous comedy characters on Saturday Night Live, shows enormous control as the motherly Maggie.  She is a tough woman, trying to make ends meet, not some crazy overblown comedy character.

The film is better than expected, and I look forward to seeing Drew Barrymore step behind the camera again.

Whip It (2009) 111 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sexual content including crude dialogue, language and drug material.
Director: Drew Barrymore
Starring: Ellen Page as Bliss Cavendar / Babe Ruthless
Marcia Gay Harden as Brooke Cavendar
Kristen Wiig as Maggie Mayhem
Drew Barrymore as Smashley Simpson
Juliette Lewis as Iron Maven
Jimmy Fallon as Hot Tub Johnny Rocket
Eve as Rosa Sparks
Zoe Bell as Bloody Holly
Daniel Stern as Earl Cavendar
Alia Shawkat as Pash