Whip it! [based on the book] by dir. by

22 April 2010


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Bliss Cavender works at a typical American diner, under her mother’s guidance she does pageants, and she goes to school. It isn’t an ideal life. She wants out. One day, while out shopping she sees some local roller derby girls and wants to investigate. Herself and best friend Pash pretend to be going to see the local football team but instead head for the roller derby, and before you know it Bliss is trying out for a team.

Can I just say that I loved this film. It was teh awesome!

It isn’t a perfect film. And I’m pretty sure it isn’t to everyone’s taste but I just really enjoyed it. For one thing the majority of characters in it are women. And this isn’t some lame chick-hunting-down-a-date flick. That’s not to say that relationships don’t feature in this film, but rather that boyfriends are important to the female characters the same way girlfriends are in more male-centered films. That was a clunky sentence but I hope you understand what I mean. Too often, in so-called women’s films is catching a man the most important thing ever. That’s not the case here and it is so nice to see it.

Also roller derbies look like so much fun. Although I’m not sure I’d be totally up for the violence involved.

I also really liked the interaction between Bliss and her parents. The relationship there is far from ideal, but the film acknowledges that both sides have their faults. Again, a rarity in films, where often it is the bitchy pushy mother trying to relive her youth while the long suffering father allows it to happen because girls are involved, not sons.

It’s just a good fun film, with really good performances from all involved, and I loved Barrymore’s Smash character.

Other reviews: Quirky fusion ; I heart the talkies ; Filmstalker ; Heroine content

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4 Responses

  1. Carl V. says:

    We watched this recently and loved it. It was so much fun. We had been addicted to the Rollergirls series on A&E back when it was on so seeing this one was a no brainer. In fact, right after watching it we pulled out the Rollergirls DVDs and started watching them again.

  2. Christy says:

    Loved this film when I saw it in theaters. Then I went out and bought the soundtrack right after and it's fantastic as well.

    And I totally get what you mean about the boyfriends sentence.
    .-= Christy´s last blog ..Teaser Tuesday: Delta Wedding =-.

  3. Fence says:

    It is good to hear that I can make some sort of sense to some people :)