Whip It
By Marshall Fine
Rating:
Who's in it: Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig
What's it about: A Texas teen (Page) becomes a star of roller derby without telling her parents.
Great skate: Page plays a girl named Bliss, whose mother (Marcia Gay Harden) has her working the beauty-pageant circuit. But when Bliss sees roller derby for the first time, she's hooked - and when she tries out, she finds she's a natural. She takes her team to the top - until her folks find out and forbid her from skating, just before the big match. This film will entertain young girls but it's probably too predictable for anyone older than about 14. Drew Barrymore directed and plays a skater named Smashley Simpson. She's obviously into grrl power - too bad she didn't give the script a little more edge or funnier jokes. (The funniest things are the women's skate-names: Bloody Holly, Eva Destruction, Iron Maven.) When a food fight is the highlight, you know you're in trouble. But the intended audience won't care how lame it is.
Long story short: This should be a series on the CW.
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