Whip It (DVD)

Whip It (2009) starring Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Stern, Alia Shawcat. Disaffected Texas teen Bliss (Page) is seduced by the dark side of sports and -- even though she is underage -- she joins a roller derby team, where she is known as Babe Ruthless. The name of the team is the Hurl Scouts, and they are the worst team in the league -- and proud of it. That is, until Babe Ruthless arrives and the team begins to get tired of losing. Meanwhile, Bliss must deal with her overbearing mother (Harden), who just wants her to be good in school and to win beauty pageants. Things get complicated when Bliss falls for a young man, who betrays her, and her best friend (Shawcat) gets arrested for drinking underage at a Hurl Scout afterparty. The dramatic choice then becomes, will Babe Ruthless play for the Hurl Scouts in the championship game, or will Bliss appear in a beauty pageant (the events are on the same day) to please her mother? I think this movie is supposed to be all about grrrl power (Barrymore directed as well as acting in the film), but to me it just comes off as a piling up of sports-movie cliches. The parts don't add up to a coherent whole, and the plot is all too predictable. The novelty -- that the sport is roller derby -- quickly wears off. The subtitles are good. Grade: B