Review: Whip It

Drew Barrymore has had a tumultous career in Hollywood after debuting as a child star in E.T. she went off the rails but then went onto reinvent herself as both romantic comedy leading lady and Indie film producer. Now she brings her first film as director - Whip It! in which she also has a supporting role. Part Indie-comedy, part coming-of-age movie and part sports film, Whip It! follows Ellen Page's Bliss Kavanagh a small town girl who has big aspirations to leave a town in which she's stuck working in a diner and competing in beauty pageants at the behest of her mother. She discovers a passion for roller derby and through a twist of fate ends up joining a team alongside Drew Barrymore's Smashlee Simpson and occurs the wrath of main rival Iron Maven played by Juliette Lewis trying to erase all the memories of that horrible Orange advert. Bliss also begins a romantic relationship with a rock musician, the only plot strand in the film which slows down the film, although it is necessary to show Bliss' world is changing I felt this was a little bit cliched.

As Bliss, Ellen Page proves that Juno was no fluke. In fact the film's heroine is a lot less sarcastic and easier to like that the pregnant teen she played in Jason Reitman's Oscar winner. Although she does do the whole trick of pretending to be 'plain' by wearing glasses and tying her hair back until she starts her roller derby, she can be forgivern for this because she creates a fully rounded character trying to please everyone at the detriment to her own personal life. Alia 'Maybe from Arrested Development' Shawkat is great as Bliss' best friend while Marcia Gay Harden excels as Bliss' former pageant queen mother trying to relive her youth through her daughter. Good support is also provided through members of the Roller Derby team most notably Kristen Wiig as Maggie Mayhem and Barrymore heerself as well as Andrew (brother of Luke and Owen) Wilson as the team's coach.

Funny, charming and chaotic in equal measure, Whip It! is a very good comedy film. It doesn't really break any boundaries but you will find yourself getting swept up in the world of roller derby and some of the sequences featuring the sport are really good. Page proves that Juno wasn't a one-off and Barrymore proves that she is a proficient director lets just hope her follow-up will be just as good.