Whip It (2009)

This was a fun time at the movies. Nothing great, nothing bad, just a fun time. Drew Barrymore did a fine job in her directing debut. Much better than Michael Keaton and John Krasinski's 2009 ventures.

Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is from a small town in Texas and has ambition to leave that small town. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen. Her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) is constantly making Bliss try and relive her own pageant glory days. Whether it's her fault or not, they never seem to end well. By chance, her and her best friend head out to a roller derby in Austin. It's there where she sees Maggie Mayhem (Kristin Wiig) and the rest of the Hurl Scouts whip around the derby track and leave carnage in its place. Bliss lies about her age in order to try out for the team's open spots and, while shaky and small, her speed lands her a spot. While she's having the best time of her life on the track, it's only a matter of time before her parents find out about the brutality and the team finds out she's not who she says.

There were some trouble spots in the story of the movie, some plotlines that were either glossed over or completely skipped but, that doesn't diminish the fun time I had watching this film. The skating action scenes were well shot and very entertaining. There was no overwhelming quality to this film and I'm sure it won't go down on a list of best movies but, Barrymore's directing skills are on the up & up and she has the talent to make another good movie.