After seeing Whip It, the new Drew Barrymore movie, I have yet another reason to be jealous of high school girls. In addition to having their youth, their waist line, and their entire lives ahead of them, they now have this incredibly smart movie to inspire them. If only Whip It had come out in the 80's, I probably would have spent less time in darkened movie theaters listening to furtively whispered pleads from skeevy dates to cop a feel. But let's just blame my gullibility on the fact that Pretty in Pink was my inspiration, and return to this review of Whip It. 
Ellen Page (star of Juno) is ideally cast as Bliss, the confused Texas teenager who is unfulfilled by her life in the tiny town of Beaumont. After school she serves us pulled pork to town jerks while wearing a pink pig apron at Squealer's BBQ. Her weekends are spent competing in beauty pageants so her mother can relive her youth vicariously through her daughters. Page is the perfect misunderstood teenager, with her big sad doe eyes that can look so innocent one minute, and so tough the next framed with black eyeshadow.
During a shopping trip in Austin, Bliss catches a glimpse of another life when a group of tough, but dazzling roller skating women hand her a promotional flyer for a roller derby event. Bliss is exhilarated by the women's power and confidence. After the derby, she musters up the courage to go up to one and confess her admiration. The skater smiles and dares her, "why don't you try out? Be your own hero." And the rest, as they say, is history.
Whip it is packed with great cameos and original details. The Hurl Scout girls, Bliss' roller derby teammates include some familiar and not so familiar faces such as Drew Barrymore, the movie's director and one of the lead scouts, Eve, and SNL's Kristen Wiig. Jimmy Fallon was hilarious as the derby MC. And Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River and Pollock) was excellent as Bliss' former pageant queen postmaster mother.
I won't say anymore so as to not spoil this wonderful movie, but let me just say that it is anything but predictable. Although there is a love story, including many creative memorable scenes, it is not the main message of Whip It. This is definitely not your typical girl struggles, girl tries hard, and girl gets the guy as the sun sets movie plot. This is a movie packed with girl power and girl inspiration. You'll leave feeling powerful enough to do anything you set your mind to, even if it's not getting into a rink to race around at top speed with some mean looking women.
