At The Movies: Whip It

Published by Jenny on October 20th, 2009

whip it

Whip It is Drew Barrymore’s debut as a director. It hosted a perky and talented flow of scenes proving that she can be as good behind the camera as well as in front.

The film is set in a less-common world of women enjoying roller-derby racing with star Ellen Page who shows to have potential to do more films domestically and internationally. Whip it is suitable for a vast market from family to girl power and a little twist of romance.

Page is Bliss Cavendar who is a pretty and smart girl from small-town Texas who seeks freedom in big city Austin. Her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) dreams of her winning trophies in local beauty pageants and her father goes to watch football games to avoid bickering with the wife.

One day fliers that said “looking for an all-girl roller derby” hooked Page. Since her parents would not want her to be involved in such physical activity, she starts to live two lives that only get more complicated over time. But you already know, things will go well in the end.

Whip it is a familiar yet different in its own right offering a plate of heartwarming stories on how misunderstanding is bridge with smothering love.

And of course matched with triumph scenes can be pretty uplifting. The story writer Shauna Cross has managed to make the story more exciting with fresh twists showing that women are also capable of doing stuff that only men were known to do onscreen.

The best platter in the movie goes to the amount of violence the girls bring on during the many competitions that are perfectly choreographed. They show off their bruises like badges of strength and honor.

While the film is set to show innocent entertainment, there’s always more to it than that. Especially when gender shifts are shown in the movie when some women actually do what men can.

Barrymore and Juliette Lewis are simply wonderful, as is “Whip It” across the board.

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