WHIP IT

 

 

Whip It marks the directorial debut of actress Drew Barrymore (of E.T. and Charlie's Angels fame) who also has a relatively smaller role in this film. This film stars Ellen Page (of Juno and Inception fame) who plays a rather rebellious teenager named Bliss who lives in a small Texas town who's pretty much forced into doing beauty pageants by her overbearing mother (played by Marcia Gay Harden) who's a former beauty pageant queen herself. However, she decides what she really wants to do is play women's roller derby after seeing her very first roller derby match. So she auditions to be a member of the roller derby group even though she's underage. So she lies about her age and ends up making the cut. Being involved in a roller derby group gives Bliss the courage to finally stand up to her overbearing mother once and for all and tells her what she truly wants to do, which is, of course, roller derby much to her mother's chagrin. Whip It at times plays a little like a Lifetime original movie, and Ellen Page basically plays a variation of the rebellious teenager she played in her highly-acclaimed film Juno which won her a slew of accolades and/or awards. Whip It I would say qualifies as a "chick flick" that would satisfy male viewers with the roller derby scenes (I mean, what guy doesn't like hot chicks riding around on skates beating the crap out of each other, am I right, fellas!). This film also stars Kristen Wiig (of Bridesmaids and Saturday Night Live fame) who plays the "leader" of the roller derby group Ellen Page's character is on and Juliette Lewis (of Natural Born Killers and Cape Fear fame) who does her typical crazy bad-ass chick shtick and plays the "leader" of the rival roller derby group who becomes Page's character's personal rival in the film (because, you know, it wouldn't be a true "chick flick" without two chicks going at it!). This film also doesn't have your typical "happy ending" like you see in so many other films (and, of course, you;ll just have to watch the film to see what I'm talking about, all right?). Overall, I'd say Whip It would make a decent choice for your next date night if you can't decide what film to watch. (You're welcome, guys!)