Review of Whip It (2009) by James S — 24 Sep 2010

Another coming of age movie starring the male version of Michael Cera: Ellen Page. Like Cera though, Page has a knack for making her characters likeable, even if she looks like she could do with a good feed these days.

Though Whip It! won't grant her the same accolades as Hard Candy or Juno, Page is good enough as the girl trying to escape the tyrannical clutches of her beauty pageant fixated mother by immersing herself in the world of female roller derby......and gawking at the supposedly hot Razorlight-like singer of some band.

Whip It! is funny in parts but maybe not as funny as it could have been, but it is boosted by an amazing cast. Drew Barrymore, Zoe Bell, Juliette Lewis and Kirsten Wigg all back up Page very nicely to give the film a strong ensemble feel to it. Even better though are Marcia Gay Harden and in particular, an almost unrecognisable Daniel Stern as her parents.

Whip It!'s roller skating scenes add a touch of drama to proceedings and are reasonably exciting even if the fizzle does start to run out after a while, the final game/match is quite tense. The film also marks itself out as not going for the obvious finale but one which may be routed more in reality than the happy ever afters.

Whip It! manages to add itself to the list of good teen movies of the last few years and is an accomplished directorial debut from Drew Barrymore, even if it doesn't quite rank up there with her exit in the Scream movie.