Whip It

2009, Comedy/Drama, 1h 51m

193 Reviews 100,000+ Ratings

critics 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. Read critic reviews

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Whip It Photos

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Movie Info

Bliss Cavendar lives in small-town Texas and yearns to break free of her mother's world of beauty pageants and conformity. She sees her chance when she meets the Hurl Scouts, a roller-derby team; she tries out for the team and wins a slot, lying to her parents about her new hobby. Bliss finds friendship and freedom with her teammates, but a conflict between a championship game and the Bluebonnet beauty pageant threatens to spill her secret.

Rating:

PG-13 (Drug Material|Crude Dialogue|Language|Sexual Content)
Genre:

Comedy, Drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Drew Barrymore
Producer:

Barry Mendel, Drew Barrymore
Writer:

Shauna Cross
Release Date (Theaters):

Oct 2, 2009 wide
Release Date (Streaming):

Jan 26, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA):

$13.0M
Runtime:

1h 51m
Distributor:

Fox

Cast & Crew

Elliot Page
Bliss Cavendar

Marcia Gay Harden
Brooke Cavendar

Kristen Wiig
Maggie Mayhem

Drew Barrymore
Smashley Simpson

Juliette Lewis
Iron Maven

Daniel Stern
Earl Cavendar

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for Whip It

Saturday Night Live Stars on the Big Screen

Critics Consensus: Zombieland Is Bloody Good

Whip It Good: Our Favorite Rollerskating Jams

Critic Reviews for Whip It

All Critics (193) | Top Critics (56) | Fresh (164) | Rotten (29)

Full Review… Nell Minow Movie Mom

Full Review… Xan Brooks Guardian

Full Review… Sukhdev Sandhu Daily Telegraph (UK)

Full Review… Kim Newman Empire Magazine

Full Review… David Jenkins Time Out

Full Review… Nigel Andrews Financial Times

Full Review… Joe Lipsett Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr Podcast

Full Review… Alex Behan Stuff.co.nz

Full Review… Yasmin Omar Harper's Bazaar

Full Review… James Croot Stuff.co.nz

Full Review… Stuart McGurk NME

Full Review… Yasser Medina Cinemaficionados

View All Critic Reviews (193)

Audience Reviews for Whip It

May 23, 2014

Page is brilliant and the characters are well developed. didn't expect to like this but I'm super impressed and can't recommend this one any more.

Brendan N Super Reviewer
May 18, 2014

It's obscurely humorous and heartfelt. Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is impressive and awkwardly stylish. Whip It supplies just enough in its envisioning tale and overall attitude to make this an intriguing coming-of-age story. 4/5

Eugene B Super Reviewer
Mar 09, 2013

A really cute directional debut from Drew Barrymore, it's a coming of age film about a young girl finding her real passion, juggling between her parents' expectation and her own determination. Like any typical flowers production, it's got many great characters, nice plot, fine soundtracks and great dialogues. The romantic subplot was unnecessary, but still nicely fitted in.

Sylvester K Super Reviewer
Jan 28, 2012

Whip It have a nice team of actors, especially the 'return' of Daniel Stern. Drew Barrymore's debut in direction, however bring cliches of a typical teen romantic comedy and make her movie look a mix of 'Juno', 'Footloose' and 'Thank God It's Friday'.

Lucas M Super Reviewer

See All Audience reviews