Whip It (2009) Movie Review

Lean, mean, green machine

A brilliant directorial debut from one of my favorite actress Drew Barrymore, starring Ellen Page, who is on the fast track of joining Drew up there

Movie Summary:

Bliss Cavender (Ellen Page) is a 17 year old girl who is a regular contestant in beauty pageants just because her mother thinks highly of the event. She, like many teenage girls out there, don't quite share her mother's enthusiasm.

Next up, Swimwear! Owh wait, this is underage pageant.

One day, she came across a flyer for a roller derby exhibition bout between Hurl Scouts and Holly Rollers. She and her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) went to check out the contest and Bliss unexpectedly took an interest in the sporting event. After lying about her age, she entered the try outs for the team Hurl Scouts. Being a small girl that she is, her high speed on the skates gave her the extra edge and she got accepted in the team. The Hurl Scouts consists of mature single mother Maggie Mayham (Kristen Wigg), butch Bloody Holly (Zoe Bell), sarcastic Rosa Sparks (Eve) and crazy Smashley Simpson (Drew Barrymore). Despite having Razor (Andrew Wilson) as their coach, the team usually opts to do whatever they think is fun on the tracks. Bliss - aka Babe Ruthless when she puts her skates on - who is faster than any girl on the team, quickly became the ace. The movie then turns on a little romance when she met a young rock guitarist, Oliver (Landon Pigg). However a series of events turns Bliss's world upside down. Her best friend Pash got arrested for underage drinking at one of the derby tournament, Oliver cheated on her while on tour with his band and her team mates found out she is below the required age of 21 to be able to compete in the tournaments. She needed one of her parents to sign a letter of consent for her to continue the game which was a problem since they were not too happy about what happened to Pash and finding out her new past time. After patching things up with her parents, she finally made it to the final game of the tournament against biggest rival Holly Rollers.

Let's get jiggy with it

What I think of the movie:

This is the kind of movie you watch when you want to sit back and relax after a long day of work. The tone of the movie is light and you don't need to think much to enjoy this movie. Its fun, quirky and downright entertaining. The scenes with the Hurl Scouts are never boring. They're are the type of happy go lucky bunch that you would love to hang out with. Always having fun and laughing all the way. I love the scene where they lost a bout but still celebrated being number two even though as Razor sarcastically put it, "We came in second out of two teams. Nice."

Group hug anyone?

Although this is mostly a fun, upbeat movie, it is not without some dramatic scene. This is shown when Bliss is faced with conflict. Having proved that she is a tough girl on the tracks, her world shattered when she is faced with one problem after another. It was an emotional battle both with herself and the people around her. Eventually this lead to her becoming stronger which is shown when she confronted her biggest rival Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis) in the final round against the Holly Rollers.

Like always, everything comes down to a staring contest

The casts are splendid. Ellen Page as Bliss aka Babe Ruthless is simply superb. Although I've only seen her in two other movies (Juno and Smart People), she is no doubt my new favorite actress. Her character Bliss is an awkward, down to earth girl. But when she puts her skates on, she is ruthless and her eyes glimmer with determination. The scene where she hit rock bottom and finally broke down and cried is, for lack of a better word, flawless.

Breaks yer heart dunit?

The rest of the casts are commendable. As individuals they don't stand out much. But together, they are perfect. The chemistry between them is amazing. You can clearly see they enjoy working with each other. Its easy to assume that these people are great friends off set which translates to a great performance on screen.

Laughter is after all an orgasm triggered by intercourse between sense and nonsense

Owh and Jimmy Fallon as "Hot Tubs" Johnny Rocket, the commentator of the games, is frickin' hilarious.

"Live from Saturday Night!"

Overall this is the movie to watch when you want to unwind at the end of the day. It'll cheer you up any day of the week.