I decided to go see Whip It last week. The movie is entertaining overall and I really enjoyed it.
Bliss competes in beauty pageants because of her mother even though she really doesn’t care about them. She comes across a flyer for a roller derby and convinces her friend Pash that they should go. Bliss really enjoys it and after talking to one of the women decides that she is going to try out. She makes it onto one of the teams and then has to find a way to juggle her school work, job and practices for the derby all while keeping it from her parents what she is up to.
Everything does start off a bit slow as the characters and situation are set up. The pace does slow down every so often throughout the movie, so there are a few pacing issues, but it wasn’t so slow that I got bored with what was happening. The movie doesn’t send the best message since Bliss spends most of the moving lying to just about everyone, but the movie is entertaining overall. The roller derby plays a big part in what is going on and different matches and practices are shown. It is a rough sport, but it is entertaining. That does add a bit of violence to what is going on, but it isn’t that graphic.
There is an attempt to add some romance through a relationship that develops between Bliss and Oliver. That aspect isn’t a huge part of the movie and it wasn’t my favorite part of the movie either. Most of the scenes that I felt dragged on too long were focused on the relationship. The movie does have an interesting group of characters, though most of them aren’t developed that much. The cast does fine with the parts. I think Drew Barrymore did well with directing the movie. She also has a part in the movie, though it is smaller.
I did get a review posted on Epinions if anyone would like to take a look.
Whip It
