Whip It

  • Review Date: October 1, 2009
  • PG-13
  • Genre: Comedy
  • 2009
 Review

Common Sense Media says

Roller derby dramedy mixes girl power and teen angst.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this coming-of-age sports dramedy -- which stars Juno's Ellen Page and was directed by perennial teen fave Drew Barrymore -- offers empowering messages for girls, especially those with unconventional interests/hobbies. Although the main character lies to her parents and hurts her friends, she faces the consequences of her behavior and learns from her experiences. Expect plenty of aggressive skating and confrontations during the movie's fast-paced roller derby scenes, as well as some strong language, underage drinking, and sexual references (including a scene in which a teen couple kisses and gets mostly undressed underwater).

  • The movie celebrates unconventional girls who may not be interested in traditionally female hobbies and are longing to find other ways to express themselves. Some of the "toughness" is heavy-handed posturing, but a lot of it is played for laughs. Even the "villain" isn't necessarily a bad person -- she's just a tough girl looking to win. As typical of this genre, parents and their kids start off completely not understanding each other but find common ground through communication and acceptance. A mentor reminds the main character to appreciate her family. On the downside, there's some stereotypical treatment of small-town life.
  • Bliss lies to her parents and hurts her best friend, but she ultimately faces the consequences of her decisions with grace. She's also fundamentally a kind-hearted person looking to cement her own identity in a world where girls' images are largely defined by beauty. Her parents at first come off as being close-minded, but they have a deep well of compassion toward their daughter and eventually embrace her uniqueness.
  • Roller derby is very aggressive, and the film showcases plenty of bruising, bone-crunching action. Characters are elbowed, kicked, and pushed around, and they sometimes end up bloodied. There's also some outright fighting, and trash talk is a common occurrence on the track.
  • Teens kiss and make out, and one couple goes all the way -- no sensitive body parts are shown, but you see them stripping to their skivvies underwater in a swimming pool and later holding each other out of the water (bare shoulders showing). The girl later discusses the experience euphemistcally with her mother. References to penis size.
  • Fairly frequent use of language like "jackass," "hell," "s--t," "bitch," "screw," ass," "balls," and "goddammit." There's also one use of "f--k," and a character gives someone the finger.
  • Brands/logos seen on screen include Google, Coleman, Zenith, and Barbie -- though all play fairly minor roles.
  • Some underage drinking. A teen girl gets drunk at a party and makes out with a random guy before throwing up; later, a teen is arrested after being caught with a drink in public. One character (not a teen) does a kegstand. A mother hides her smoking from her daughter. A father drinks beer while watching sports and lets his teen daughter take a (big) sip. A mother mistakes a marijuana bong for a vase.

What's the story?

In WHIP IT (which is based on the book Derby Girl by Shauna Cross), Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is a small-town Texas teen being groomed to win the Blue Bonnet pageant, a beauty contest that her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) won long ago. But it's not exactly what Bliss envisions for herself. A visit to a roller derby match in Austin with her best friend, Pash (Alia Shawkat), reveals Bliss' next move -- and, after a successful tryout, Bliss morphs into her new incarnation: Babe Ruthless, a power skater with a thirst to win. Bliss' transformation has a profound effect on the rest of her life, but her parents have no idea about her secret passion, and her teammates don't know she's underage. When the two worlds collide, Bliss' dreams seem likely to be derailed.


Is it any good?

 

Though Page's Bliss exhibits some of the chutzpah of her most famous character to date -- pregnant teen Juno -- she's an entirely different concoction. Though Bliss doesn't eclipse Juno's quirky charm, there's still plenty to like about her. She's a quiet rebel who'd rather wear Stryper T-shirts and military boots than the cutesy dresses that her pageant competitors prefer, and her taste in guys runs along the lines of long-haired indie rock hipsters, rather than boorish jocks (of course, working with generalizations like that, whose wouldn't?). Page manages to pull off "counterculture" without coming off as a poseur.

The supporting cast is terrific, especially Shawkat, who lights up every scene despite being written similarly to most other "cool best friend" roles. The ensemble also features Drew Barrymore, who debuts here as a director. She lets scenes unspool a little too long in places and hammers certain plot points home a little too hard, but she rightfully keeps things loose for the most part. And, since plenty of people will be wondering: The roller derby action isn't always suspenseful, but boy, is it fun to watch. Groundbreaking Whip It isn't, but who can argue with an entertaining girl-power flick?


Explore, discuss, enjoy

  • Families can talk about how the movie portrays underage sex and drinking. Does it seem realistic to you? Are the consequences believable?

  • Why do you think Bliss feels the need to lie to her family about what she's doing? Is that a realistic take on parent-teen relationships?

  • Why is it that in many movies, it's the unconventional teen who pushes the limit?


This review of Whip It was written by
Teen, 13 years old
February 28, 2011
 
the movie is really good it shows a message sayin that do not go behind your parents back and do what to do.
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Teen, 13 years old
February 22, 2011
 
i liked this move and thats all thats i'm guuna say lol

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Parent of 11 year old
October 5, 2009
 
So Good It's Worth Navigating the Tricky Parts
Funny and positive messages -- Ellen Page character is quirky but works through her issues with her parents. A wonderful movie. I plan to take my 11 year old daughter, now that I saw it with another adult.
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Teen, 13 years old
February 12, 2011
 
Good intentions
LOVE THIS MOVIE! saw it with my friends and their was a little iffiness but has good intentions...
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Kid, 12 years old
April 5, 2011
 
A Very Good Movie!!!
I thought that Whip It was a very good movie, but there was one part that my mom had to fast foward through. But it was funny, but it made me sad that i can only wobble on roller skates.
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Teen, 14 years old
March 1, 2011
 
14 and up should be able to read no younger!
It's a great story but lying and the backstabbing isn't a good message..
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Parent of 16 year old
October 16, 2009
 
Great, funny, entertaining movie for the family with older kids.

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Adult
November 22, 2009
 
Girl empowerment
A good girl-empowerment movie appropriate for teens and tweens. While there is a bit of sexual content and drinking, those events aren't glamorized. (The main character regrets having sex with someone she didn't know well enough, and the underaged drinking gets the characters in a lot of trouble.)
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Kid, 12 years old
October 8, 2009
 
I personally loved this movie. I did think it was innipropriate at some parts. The movie, though there was some teen drinking and sexual images, all showed Bliss's bad choices and she did regret them. They were saying to not do those things. Whip it also had some good mesages about children respecting their parents wishes and vice versa.
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Parent of 7 year old
October 2, 2009
 
Fun action & good message for older girls. Otherwise, nothing special.
I myself was amused, but not overly-engaged by this one. The derby stuff is neat, but the story is pretty rote. This would be appropriate for older teens, and does have an underlying positive message for girls regarding being true to yourself.
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This review of Whip It was written by
Studio:Fox Searchlight
Director:Drew Barrymore
Cast:Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden
Genre:Comedy
Run time:111 minutes
Theatrical release date:October 2, 2009
DVD release date:January 26, 2010
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:sexual content including crude dialogue, language and drug material

This review of Whip It was written by
 

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