Whip It

The directorial debut of Drew Barrymore hopes to cling on Juno's marketability. At some point, it clicks as evidenced by my agreement to get hold of this whip it movie.

Premise: Kitty Pride is a misfit in her middle America town in Texas. Her mother is insistent on her winning every beauty pageant ion her town. Her father is a non-confrontational football addict. In all these, she tries to find a way to get out of town, or at the very least a little escape, and she does in roller derby.

Due to her small size, her dexterity proves to be a very essential skill in the brutal sport, and she soon takes on the arena and the fake name of Babe Ruthless.

Whip it is as simple as it gets on the effort to produce a feel good feeling. There is the typical conservative family, the cool sports, and the magnetic heroine. Kitty Pride does her usual charm of capturing us with her innocent face and fiery heart. The supporting cast especially the parents reflect the usual family most of us grow up with, over protective, critical minded but in the end, supportive and understanding.

My only qualm it is obviously a directorial debut of Drew Barrymore due to her limited scenes, her actor friends showing up sporadically in cameos and the lack of camera angles to highlight the sports scenes. Not bad, but not great either, still worth a look if only for Ellen Page.