Whip It (2009)

“But you don't have the balls.”
“I can grow the balls...”

            As soon as Whip It started I could not believe how hipster it was. I am so not into the hipster shit that has taken hold of people in their twenties… yes I am in my twenties… no I am not a hipster. Hipsters and their problems are annoying!!! Anyway the idea of having this high school girl go through growing pains of not fitting in and not being able to live up to what her mother wants her to be mixed in with her fitting in with women who are like fifteen- twenty years old than her who are on a roller derby team was good.

            Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is a seventeen year old girl living in the middle of nowhere in a small town in Texas where the only exciting things to happen are beauty pageants. Bliss’s mom enters her in these stupid contests even though she never wins. The mom was in beauty pageants when she was younger and thinks that they are the way to some money. She does not see that Bliss is not the pageant type at all; Bliss is shy and awkward and works as a waitress in a BBQ joint.

            Bliss gets her mom to take her and her sister to Austin to go shopping. They go into what her mom calls a “head” store (they sell smoking paraphernalia) where Bliss sees a flyer for a roller derby being held in town. Bliss goes back to her best and only friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) telling her they should go. The roller derby is held in an old warehouse with a ton of people there. Bliss is totally taken with the derby and decides to try out even though she is not twenty-one.

            For weeks before the try out Bliss practices on her new skates. She does not tell her parents what she is up because they would kill her. Pash drives her all over the place. Bliss is a killer at try outs and makes it to a team called the Hurl Scouts and they give her the name Babe Ruthless.

            Things go well for Bliss for a while. She is enjoying being on the Hurl Scouts and because she is small and quick she helps the team climb their way to the finals. One day a woman from another team named Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis) learns that Bliss is only seventeen and threatens to tell on her. Bliss has to tell the team about this so they do not hear it from Maven.

            In the end things turn out alright with Bliss and the team and she finds something that she loves and a place where she belongs.

            Eh the story was ok. I am so over (or maybe too old) for stories that involve a girl who is an outcast and is looking for somewhere to fit in. The roller derby scenes were the best they were fun to watch. They made me really want to buy a pair of skates and go to a roller rink! (God I am dating myself! I used to go to one every Friday!). I wish I could try out for a roller derby team but I weigh nothing and I would get killed!

            For as much as I did not really care for the movie I loved the cast they were amazing. Ellen Page has her moments; I wore her out with Juno a few years ago. Alia Shawkat was the best she is so damn funny. Drew Barrymore’s parts were small since she was also the director; she is her usual weird corky self. Kristen Wiig is always a panic to see. Jimmy Fallon had me rolling on the floor he had some of the funniest lines. Juliette Lewis just creeps me out she is so not good looking and so weird. The rest of the characters and actors were fantastic too.

            Whip It is worth at least one viewing since the cast is really good but other than that the movie is not that good.