Whip It is a coming-of-age story about a girl who finds all the rebellion and affirmation she needs at roller derby.

Racing around a track in skates is wild, goofy and exhilarating, and filmmaker Drew Barrymore captures every bit of that good-natured energy in this film.

Ellen Page stars in Whip It

as Bliss Cavendar, a high school senior living in Bodeen Texas. Bliss' mom (Marcia Gay Harden) thinks the ticket out of their small town is winning the local beauty pageant, but Bliss doesn't see herself as pageant material.

In the big city of Austin she encounters a couple of roller-derby competitors, and the next thing you know, Bliss is digging out her old Barbie roller skates and trying out for a team.

She has to lie to her parents to take part in roller derby, but the manic female camaraderie and sanctioned aggression of the sport look just about right to her.

Bliss really finds her niche at roller derby. She's good and she's fast, and she makes friends with most of the other girls -- played by Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell and Eve, among others.

Her main competition is the leader of the rival team, played by a ferocious Juliette Lewis. And in the midst of her newfound independence, she even finds a boyfriend in a musician named Oliver (played by real-life Nashville musician Landon Pigg.)

But there's trouble in paradise. The little white lie that got Bliss out of the house for roller derby comes back to haunt her. She fights with her parents and with her best friend and encounters heartbreak.

Whip It manages to cover a lot of ground -- from teen rebellion to first love to truly finding one's place in the world -- and does so without benefit of cliche. There isn't a sitcom moment or a predictable ending anywhere in sight.

It's almost miraculous.

For this directorial debut, Drew Barrymore keeps it light and real. The movie is a good mix of comedy and drama, the writing is great and the performances are first-rate. (The cast includes Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Stern, Alia Shawkat and Ari Graynor.)

Barrymore got her cast to skate and to do most of their own stunts, so the roller derby scenes are completely convincing.

And scary and funny.

The icing on the Whip It cake is the soundtrack, a mix of old and new that involves some inspired choices: The Ettes, Tilly and the Wall and Jens Lekman, for example, rub shoulders with Dolly Parton,.38 Special, The Breeders and The Ramones.

The 19-song soundtrack is available from Rhino Records this week.

Whip It is a story about power and self-confidence for girls. It captures perfectly the awkwardness of adolescence and the sheer exhilaration of flying, roller derby style.

The movie offers another memorable performance from Ellen Page, and it's an auspicious directing debut for Drew Barrymore.

(This film is rated PG)

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