Whip It

Parents are always telling their children to “Follow your Dreams”, and that’s just what Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) does, no matter how unbelievable it is, in this directorial-debut of Drew Barrymore.

“Whip It” follows the story of Bliss Cavendar, an Indie-loving, unpopular teen that is continually pushed into beauty pageants by her over-bearing mother, as she makes the transition from her normal, follow-the-rules routine into her alter-ego, Babe Ruthless, the fastest, slippery Jammer (a position in Roller Derby) on the leagues worst team, The Hurl Scouts. Along the way, Bliss discovers first-love and heartbreak in the man of her dreams and has to constantly overcome mother-daughter differences. But as I mentioned before, a lot of this movie was unbelievable.

First, she lies to the Derby league about her age and she gets away with it? Come on, even though Ellen Page IS 22, she looks like she is 18 (the league age is 21)! Second, there is a part where Bliss and the man she falls in love with break into a school to go swimming in the pool? Where are the security alarms or janitors after what felt like three hours of swimming? And thirdly, since when do parents not care about their 17-year-old daughter on a school night? Although Bliss lies to her parents about taking an SAT class in order to make practice, she is gone from the time school lets out until midnight and no one is worried?

I’m not saying this movie wasn’t good, because it was (especially the names other derby members have, like Jabba the Slut and Smashley Simpson), just a lot of this movie was very unbelievable.

2 out of 4