Whip It

2009

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 122 Ratings

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6.8

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6.8	Your Score
6.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 122 Ratings

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Whip It

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Movie Details & Credits

Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: October 2, 2009 | PG-13

Starring: Drew Barrymore, Elliot Page, Kristen Wiig

Summary: A rebellious Texas teen trades in her small town beauty pageant crown for the rowdy world of roller derby. [Fox Searchlight]

Director: Drew Barrymore

Genre(s): Drama, Sport, Comedy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 111 min

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Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert

An unreasonably entertaining movie, causing you perhaps to revise your notions about women's Roller Derby, assuming you have any. Read full review

Kim Newman

Barrymore, among the most consistently admirable women in showbiz, can proudly add a Guides badge for Meritorious Directing to her many other achievements. Excellent emo chick coming-of-age drama plus broads in fetish gear battering each other on roller skates -- frankly, a film that offers something for everyone. Read full review

Rob Nelson

Laced with good-natured hipster kitsch and endearingly goofy girl power, director Drew Barrymore's roller-derby dramedy, Whip It, is a gas. Read full review

Amy Biancolli

For all the hip checks and bloody noses, it doesn't have a mean bone in its body. Read full review

A.O. Scott

You might, nonetheless, want to see this movie, even -- or maybe especially -- if you have seen “Billy Elliot” or “Bend It Like Beckham.” Familiarity is not always a bad thing, and if the script, by Shauna Cross, piles sports movie and coming-of-age touchstones into a veritable cairn of clichés, the cast shows enough agility and conviction to make them seem almost fresh. Read full review

Jessica Baxter

Whip It doesn’t just refer to whipping around the track or whipping ass. It’s about a girl who must whip herself into shape and grow up. Read full review

Claudia Puig

To paraphrase Devo: Whip It, not so good. Read full review

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User Reviews

WinstonL

Nov 12, 2009

EVERYTHING about this movie is simply Oscar-worthy.

0 of 2 users found this helpful

RobertT.

Oct 3, 2009

Ellen Page took her tyoecast of "The Wierd Girl" to a new level. I thought this film would be just like Juno without the pregnancy and drama (Juno is my favorite movie.) But it wasn't all of the actor and actresses did an outstanding job. Ellen Page's work really stuck out to me. Ellen Page took her tyoecast of "The Wierd Girl" to a new level. I thought this film would be just like Juno without the pregnancy and drama (Juno is my favorite movie.) But it wasn't all of the actor and actresses did an outstanding job. Ellen Page's work really stuck out to me. Especially the aforementioned typecast weird girl role. It's like she was still that role but a different better version. The film its self was very good. The plot and camera work as well. It was a tad predictable but over all the film has been the best of this year so far.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful

Dragonfly44

Jul 13, 2018

I can't pinpoint why this is exactly an amazing movie; besides the amazing acting, compelling and interesting story and of course the amazing characters. Sure, it may be a bit cliché and it certainly isn't the best, but for some reason that makes it work so well. 89%

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ChadS.

Oct 4, 2009

Bliss Cavendar(Ellen Page) exercises her freedom of choice, and she chooses roller derby. Raised by a mama who is grooming her for a life of tiaras and parade floats, Bliss wants to knock people out with brawn and stamina, not beauty and poise. "Whip It" is a satirical, but offsetting film Bliss Cavendar(Ellen Page) exercises her freedom of choice, and she chooses roller derby. Raised by a mama who is grooming her for a life of tiaras and parade floats, Bliss wants to knock people out with brawn and stamina, not beauty and poise. "Whip It" is a satirical, but offsetting film that messes with Texas, small-town Texas, which shares the same tonal melange of smugness and compassion towards its rural characters as Mike Judge's animated series "King of the Hill". The film may view a woman like Brooke Cavendar(Marcia Gay Harden) as inherently ridiculous, but it stops short of mocking this reactionary lady. For example, when Brooke takes her daughter shopping for boots, she becomes the butt of a joke about unworldly hayseeds, in which this paegant mom coos like a southern debutante over the bongs she mistakenly identifies as "pretty lamps". Instead of dragging out the joke about a straight arrow mother's ignorance over drug paraphernalia, Brooke quickly recovers, and diagnoses her environs as being a "head shop". Like Peggy Hill(voiced by Kathy Najimy) from the cancelled Fox series, Brooke Cavendar is allowed to keep her dignity. Granting that beauty paegants are a de-evolutionary step for womankind, in which the Kings of Leon song "Knocked Up" is used as a predictor of Bliss' narrowing future of being a mother and homemaker when this ironic contestant crosses the stage with her blue do, roller derby seems equally narrow in scope, and may lead the girl down a path that's no less middling than the one she's leaving. After all, in roller derby, you're just rolling around in circles.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

geewah

Feb 4, 2021

A pretty decent directorial debut from Barrymore.
While the plot is nothing new, the setting and tight script elevates this movie above most of this style.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

EdwardK

Oct 21, 2009

A coming-of-age comedy that doesn't break much new ground, Whip It! did what it wants to do well enough to keep me interested throughout the film. It features another excellent performance from Ellen Page.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

ArvinM.

Oct 2, 2009

Whip this in the trash right next to Donnie Darko.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

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