Page delivers in 'Whip it'
(Cert 12, 107 mins, Comedy)
Hormonally charged teenager Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), lives in Bodeen, Texas, with her father, her beauty-pageant obsessed mother and younger sister.
Coming across a flyer for roller derby trials, she secretly attends the tryout in Austin for league underdogs, the Hurl Scouts.
Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) and Smashley Simpson (Drew Barrymore) take Bliss under their wing and with their encouragement, the plucky teen discovers her calling as her alter ego, Babe Ruthless.
Based on the novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, 'Whip It' is an auspicious directorial debut for Barrymore.
This unabashedly entertaining tale of female empowerment puts a traditional coming-of-age story on four wheels and celebrates sisterly solidarity to a hip soundtrack laden with Kaiser Chiefs, MGMT, The Breeders, Peaches and The Raveonettes.
The film follows in the skating tracks of countless other portraits of teen angst but director Barrymore invests her first feature with infectious energy including an hysterical food fight, while Page imbues Bliss with spunk and vulnerability.
Rating: ****
