Writer: Shauna Cross (screenplay and novel)
Cast: Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Alia Shawkat, Eve, Zoe Bell, Ari Graynor, Andrew Wilson
Genre: Drama, Sport
It's saved by a charming way of telling its small and well known story, good supporting cast and of course Ellen Page (at least in my case). It's flawed and unoriginal, but not every story needs to reinvent the art of movies. Ever so often you just want light entertainment for the cause of entertainment, and Whip It does its job. At least more or less.
Edit January 15, 2010:
It's been two weeks since I first viewed this movie. As you can read above I wasn't very impressed, but still enjoyed it for the lightweight entertainment it gave me. Now I'm back to adjust the rating one notch up from the original 7 I rewarded it with.
The reason? During these two weeks I've time and again seen small parts of the movie again when I've been in need of entertainment, without having the time to watch an entire movie. And it's grown on me. Not only when watching, but also when remembering parts of it. I've also seen it in full again during this time.
The story is still not very original and it's still somewhat flawed, but it's playful, it's an ensemble cast enjoying spending time together and digging into their characters and as a directional debut it's very impressive work by Drew Barrymore.
As time goes by I might again go back to my first thoughts about this movie, but there's something in my gut telling me otherwise. I think this really is a small diamond in the rough, and you would have to search far and wide to find such a simple story told so well.
Edit August 17, 2010: Along with a lot of other movies, this was adjusted downwards during the latest rating scale adjustments; making the last edit's seven to eight adjustment wrong. It's not because the movie have become worse, but because in hindsight the scale was adjusted.
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