Whip It greatly benefits from Barrymore’s breezy approach and her large female cast’s camaraderie.
Comment
09/15/09
Whip It (2009)
82
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:141
Fresh:116
Rotten:25
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: While made from overly familiar ingredients, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut has enough charm, energy, and good-natured humor to transcend its many cliches.
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut with this feisty, female-friendly action-comedy. JUNO's Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar, a young woman who longs to break free of her small-town bonds... [More]
Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore
Director: Drew Barrymore
Reviews for Whip It
Whip It is an unexpectedly touching film about female empowerment.
10/02/09
It will not change the way you think about movies, roller derby or the relations between teenage girls and their mothers, friends or dreams. But it does invite you to stop and appreciate all those things.
10/02/09
Top Critic...a fun female-empowerment movie that marks an impressively crowd-pleasing directorial debut for Drew Barrymore.
09/28/09
Love may be too strong a word, for me. But I'm deeply in like with Whip It.
10/02/09
Barrymore makes her directorial debut her with an astute eye for the complex emotional passage being experienced beneath Bliss's crash helmet.
10/16/09
Thoroughly delightful, invigorating and captivating with just the right balance of drama and comedy.
10/02/09
For the most part, the 34-year-old Barrymore, with much of her life spent in front of the camera and more than a few impressive producing credits already in the bank, proves steady on her feet, able to handle curves and straightaways with equal grace.
10/02/09
Top CriticWhip It! works...and does so sensationally. Apparently, movies can be fun. It just takes someone like Drew Barrymoore to figure out how.
10/02/09
"Whip It" is simply an entertaining vehicle, not an in-depth examination of the sport of roller derby or the women who play it.
10/04/09
Surprisingly moving and pervasively funny, this celebration of female camaraderie is, to borrow a word, pure bliss. Miracle...whip!
10/01/09
Tries to cram in as many plot points as possible to fill its belly with caloric melodrama. It's a diluted journey of feminine self-realization, better with bruises and teamwork than it is with pliable matters of the heart.
10/02/09
Cynical moviegoers who are the first in their circle of friends to look for a movie's missteps probably shouldn't attend Whip It, but many, many people will find something to love in this roller-skating underdog.
10/02/09
Despite its somewhat contrived formula, Whip It feels like a spirited Indie that refuses to sell out, demonstrating respect for both its characters and its audience.
10/11/09
Heaven on wheels.
10/01/09
Whip It ended up being a total blast. For her first film as a director, Barrymore's done a bang-up job.
09/25/09
The roller-derby comedy Whip It is like roller derby itself: sloppy, loud, fun.
10/02/09
You admire it for the care that went into fleshing out its characters, the camaraderie that grows between them, and the thrill of watching a few harrowing turns around a skating rink.
09/27/09
Whip It is funny without trying too hard to be wacky, sweet without being overly sentimental.
09/29/09
Scene for scene and beat for beat, this roller derby crowd-pleaser crackles with joy and jubilation.
10/01/09
Latest News for Whip It
October 01, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Zombieland Is Bloody Good
This week at the movies, we've got zombie zaniness (Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg); derby dolls (Whip it, starring Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page);... More...
October 01, 2009:
Whip It Good: Our Favorite Rollerskating Jams
As Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka so eloquently put it: "If the good lord had intended us to walk, he wouldn't have invented roller skates." Indeed. Yet while this week's Drew... More...
September 28, 2009:
Drew Barrymore Calls the Shots with Whip It 
Many years after a six-year-old Drew Barrymore handed Steven Spielberg a copy of her first script, she's ready to unveil her directorial debut with "Whip It." More...
July 19, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
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