Ok, I'll admit it. From the first trailer peek onward, I knew Whip It would provide a crack-up fun night at the movies. Despite the E.T. origins of my soft spot for Drew Barrymore, crazy phases and all, Ms. Barrymore transcended my expectations. The lady can direct. And act at the same time--on roller skates, no less! Add to this behind-the-scenes finesse a cast that includes SNL chameleon Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis with eyeliner toughness, a sleazy Jimmy Fallon and you've got a basic dust-up at the roller rink. Post-Juno, Ellen Page plays Bliss Cavendar, a 17-year-old stuck in the outback of Bodeen, Texas. Her postal worker/former beauty queen mother played by Marcia Gay Harden, who, let's face it, can bring complexity to a drag on a cigarette, has her eyes on a pageant crown for Bliss. But Bliss falls in love with another plan: scissoring through the line-up as Babe Ruthless at the Austin roller derby. Aided and abetted by Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat as Pash, Bliss/Babe's after school waitress friend with her eye on the Ivies, the wit factor heads off the charts. Along the way, rite-of-passage twists include a rocker boyfriend crush, a lesson in lying karma, a test to girl friendship and the inevitable packed suitcase to adulthood.
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