Whip It movie review

July 11, 2010 - #38/100
Whip It (2009)

Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) lives in a small town called Bodeen, which is located in Texas. From the very beginning of the movie, it's easy to tell that the town is a bit old fashioned. Her mother is obsessed with putting Bliss and her younger sister into beauty pageants. But, Bliss doesn't care anything about the pageants. She only participates in them to keep her mother satisfied. But, one day when Bliss is in a store buying a pair of shoes, she notices a flyer for roller derby. Bliss convinces her friend Pash to go along with her. After viewing the game, Bliss decides to try out for a team, and ends up making the Hurl Scouts team. She has finally found something that she is truly passionate about. The only problem is, a person has to at least be 21 years old in order to be on a roller derby team. Therefore, Bliss lies about her age, as well as telling her parents that she will be taking an SAT Prep course at school while she will actually be heading to Austin for roller derby practice. So, it's easy to tell that there are a few problems that eventually arise in the movie. Especially when the final roller derby tournament game is scheduled the same night as a pageant. This movie was the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore, and I thought that she did a wonderful job. I'd love for her to direct more, if the opportunity ever arose. I admit that I was a bit skeptical about watching this movie to begin with, but I loved it. The cast was wonderful, as well as the acting.

I gave this movie 9/10 stars on imdb.com.