movie review: whip it

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is a success! Ellen Page plays Bliss Cavendar, a high-schooler living in a small Texas town outside of Austin, wishing for something exciting to come along in her life to distract her from her pageant-obsessed mother's demands. And something does come along when she sneaks into the city one night and discovers the ridiculous (ridiculously awesome) world of Roller Derby. She soon joins the league, meets a boy, and shenanigans ensue. I thoroughly enjoyed Whip It, a fun and inventive film, and I'll tell you why...

More than anything, it is the incredible cast that makes this movie worth seeing. And, of course, the fact that it is about Roller Derby. How often do those come around? Ellen Page, as she did in Juno, plays the leading teen-lady well while the rest of the "Hurl Scouts", including Kristen Wiig and Drew Barrymore, provide hilarious romp. Others in the Roller Derby pack are Jimmy Fallon, Andrew Wilson (yes, Owen and Luke have an older brother and he is a funny man, indeed), and Juliette Lewis, who is always amazing and is actually quite the "mean-y" in this role, which is new for her and very funny to watch. Alia Shawkat is the wild, but studious, best friend and Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern play Bliss' parents, the latter of whom I haven't really seen since Bushwacked, but is as big of a hoot as ever. The weakness in the cast would definitely have to be in the form of singer Landon Pigg, who plays the love interest. This is his first movie, and I'm not sure if he's planning on any others, but if he is...yikes. Yet, something about his character was oddly believable, so I have to give him some credit for being most like a "real person".

It's a good mix of comedy and drama, and good comedy and good drama, at that. So..."put some skates on and be your own hero", and see this movie.