Whip It (2009)

(On TV, March 2020) The familiarity of Whip It, which blends a girl’s coming-of-age struggle with an underdog sports comedy, isn’t really a handicap. It offers reassuring guide rails in which to set this story of a young woman from rural Texas discovering her true character thanks to… competitive roller-derbies. Okay. Directed by Drew Barrymore and featuring a heavily female cast, Whip It can be seen as a charming girl-empowerment film (and one that’s more honest about it than today’s films, but I digress) with good performances and a very good soundtrack. It features a thick Austin atmosphere, some punk girl fun and plenty of small details. Ellen Page is quite cute in the lead role, but the entire cast is remarkable in-between Alia Shawkat, Kristen Wiig, Zoë Bell, Juliette Lewis, Barrymore herself and others. (Plus, Jimmy Fallon as an announcer.) In the end, Whip It is a celebration of oddball affirmation, and I’m completely on-board with it.