Director: Drew Barrymore
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Copyright: 2010
ASIN: B002VPTJOA
Age Level/Interest Age: Grade 7 and up
Genre: Comedy
Viewer’s Annotation: Reluctant beauty pageant participant Bliss discovers the world of roller derby and becomes "Babe Ruthless."
Plot Summary
Ellen Page of Juno fame plays Bliss, a seventeen-year-old dying to get out of her tiny Texas hometown and the beauty pageants her overbearing mother forces her to compete in. She finds her passion in an unlikely place: an Austin roller derby team called the Hurl Scouts. Lying to her parents about her activities and the team about her age, she adopts the name Babe Ruthless and becomes an overnight star, giving the Hurl Scouts their first shot at a championship in a very long time. Bliss juggles school, roller derby, and her waitressing job at the Oink Joint, a barbecue diner, where she works with her best friend, Pash. At a post-game party she meets Oliver, a cute boy from a local rock band, and they begin dating. Everything comes crashing down when Bliss thoughtlessly leaves Pash behind in Austin, resulting in her parents learning what she’s been doing and the league learning that Bliss is underage. On top of all this, Oliver stops calling. With a little encouragement from her roller derby friend Maggie Mayhem, though, Bliss sets about mending all of the hurt feelings, including her own.
Critical Evaluation
Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut is entertaining and very sweet. Though its plot is predictable—the Hurl Scouts rise from underdog status to having a shot at the championship, the star player is disqualified just before the big game—it’s executed with smart writing and sensitivity. And the characters may be stereotypes—the wisecracking best friend, the domineering mother forcing her own dreams on her daughter—but the excellent acting gives them life and believability. Alia Shawkat is hilarious as Pash, Marcia Gay Harden brings complexity to the mother role, Kristen Wiig nails the wise but funny mentor, and Juliette Lewis is great as the arrogant and aggressive (but not too villainous) rival team’s captain. Barrymore has a modest role as a lovable goofball who goes by Smashley Simpson. Page uses both her trademark sharp tongue and wonderfully expressive eyes to great effect, creating a character that, though similar to her breakout role in Juno, is distinct. What makes this movie especially winning, though, is that all of the performers seem to be having the time of their lives. I knew nothing about roller derby before I saw Whip It, but the Hurl Scouts make it look like most fun a girl could possibly have.
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas: N/A
Challenge Issues: Language, sexual content, drugs and alcohol
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include positive reviews from The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Roger Ebert, a mixed review from Salon.com, and a negative one from USA Today.
About the Author: N/A
Why is this title included?
This a funny, smart girl power movie that teens are likely to enjoy even more as they get older.