''Whip It'' is a 2009 American

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

comedy drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

co-produced and directed by

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, talk show host, and businesswoman. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she has received multiple List of awards and nominations received by Drew Barrymore, awards a ...

from a screenplay by Shauna Cross, based on her 2007 novel '' Derby Girl''. It stars

Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor, producer, and activist. He is known for his leading roles across Canadian and American film and television, and for his outspoken work as an activist for LGBTQ righ ...

as a teenage girl from the fictional town of Bodeen,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, who joins a

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...

team. The film also stars

Marcia Gay Harden Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. Harden's breakthrough came in 1990 with the Coen brothers' film '' Miller's ...

Kristen Wiig Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Wiig achieved stardom in the late 2000s for her ...

, Barrymore,

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress, singer and musician. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark plots, themes and settings. Lewis gained prominence in American cinema during t ...

Jimmy Fallon James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an Americans, American comedian, television host, actor, singer, writer, and producer. Best known for his work in television, Fallon's breakthrough came during his tenure as a cast member on the ...

, and Daniel Stern. ''Whip It'' premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

on September 13, 2009 and was theatrically released in the United States on October 2, by

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...

. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a box office disappointment, grossing $16.6 million worldwide against its $15 million budget. ''Whip It'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on January 26, 2010 by

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Home Entertainment (previously known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. and also known as 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment) was a home video distribution arm that distributes films produced by 20th Century Stud ...

Plot

Bliss Cavendar is a teenager in the small town of Bodeen,

. She has lost interest in the beauty pageants her mother, former beauty queen Brooke, pressures her to win. While shopping in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

with her mother, Bliss is intrigued by three

team members she encounters. She and her friend Pash attend a roller derby bout where they see the "Holy Rollers" defeat the "Hurl Scouts". Bliss lies about her age and tries out for the Hurl Scouts, who give her the

derby name A derby name, roller derby name or skater name is a nickname used by a skater while playing or officiating roller derby. Derby names can be seen as an opportunity to adopt an alternative on-track persona. Many derby names are puns, and in some ...

"Babe Ruthless", and she becomes friendly with teammates "Maggie Mayhem", "Bloody Holly" and "Smashley Simpson". The Hurl Scouts, while enthusiastic and close knit, rarely win, but chant, "We're number two!" after losing a match, to the frustration of their coach, Razor. "Iron Maven" of the Holy Rollers resents Bliss's talent and youth. Bliss soon realizes she needs to be merciless in roller derby, which also changes other aspects of her life. She stands up to a bully at school and starts dating a lanky musician named Oliver, to whom she loses her virginity before he leaves on a tour, taking a T-shirt Bliss gave him to remember her by, in exchange for his jacket. The Hurl Scouts continue to lose. Razor convinces them to change their ways after paying their rivals to use one of his plays against them, showing them how much better they could be. The team begins rising in the ranks, soon heading for a championship match against the Holy Rollers. Bliss's parents discover her involvement in roller derby when Pash is arrested at the arena for underage drinking. Pash is furious with Bliss for leaving her alone, which led to her arrest. When Bliss's parents demand she give up roller derby, she runs away from home and stays with Maggie, discovering she has a young son. Maggie gives Bliss perspective on the difficulties of being a parent. Bliss sees a picture of Oliver on social media with another girl, who is wearing her t-shirt. Heartbroken, she goes home to her mother, who comforts her. Bliss gives up roller derby and resumes her pageant career so as not to hurt her family or friends any further, and reconciles with Pash. On the day of the pageant, which is the same day as the roller derby championship, Bliss's father convinces his wife to let Bliss abandon the pageant and go join the Hurl Scouts in their championship game. Before the game begins, Bliss is approached by Oliver, who denies cheating on her, but she dumps him anyway for never calling her while he was away. The Hurl Scouts narrowly lose the championship match to the Holy Rollers, but they still happily come together and chant, "We're number two!" She and Iron Maven come to a mutual respect. Bliss's mother is still not entirely supportive of roller derby, but accepts that Bliss now knows what makes her happy and is charting her own course in life.

Cast

as Bliss Cavendar (Babe Ruthless) *

Alia Shawkat Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her performances as Maeby Fünke in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2006; 2013–2019), Dory Sief ...

as Pash *

as Brooke Cavendar * Daniel Stern as Earl Cavendar * Carlo Alban as Dwayne (Birdman) * Landon Pigg as Oliver *

as 'Hot Tub' Johnny Rocket *

as Maggie Mayhem *

Zoë Bell Zoë E. Bell (born 17 November 1978) is a New Zealand Stunt performer, stuntwoman and actress. Some of her most notable stunt-work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless in ''Xena: Warrior Princess'' and for Uma Thurman in ''Kill Bill''. As an act ...

as Bloody Holly *

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

as Rosa Sparks *

as Smashley Simpson * Andrew Wilson as Razor *

as Iron Maven * Ari Graynor as Eva Destruction *

Har Mar Superstar Sean Tillmann-Hauser (born February 6, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has performed and released studio albums as Sean Na Na and as a member of hardcore band Calvin Krime, but is best known for his work under the name Har M ...

as Fight Attendants Coach

Production

Production and filming

Screenwriter Shauna Cross adapted her 2007

young adult novel Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

'' Derby Girl'' for the screen and pitched the script to different production companies while simultaneously pitching its source material to various publishers. Once Barrymore got involved, she and Cross worked for months on script revisions, with Barrymore pushing her to "avoid her story's tidier prospects, to make things 'more raw and open-ended.'" The film project was initially to be handled by

Warner Independent Pictures Warner Independent Pictures was an independent film division of the American film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Established on August 7, 2003, its first release was 2004's '' Before Sunset,'' the sequel to the 1995 film ''Before Sunrise.' ...

, but Mandate Pictures took over after it was put into a turnaround. Production began summer 2008 in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

;

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began on July 26, taking place in and around

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, Saline,

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti ( ), commonly shortened to Ypsi ( ), is a college town and city located on the Huron River in Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's popu ...

and Birch Run. Real roller derby players were selected from local Michigan teams such as the Detroit Derby Girls, and the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls. Several scenes were also shot in Austin,

. Some scenes were also shot in Hamtramck, Michigan at Hamtramck High School as well as Ferndale, Michigan at Ferndale High School. ''Whip It'' was produced by

Barry Mendel Barry Mendel (born 1963) is an American film producer. Mendel first produced Wes Anderson’s '' Rushmore'' starring Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray, which won two Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Supporting Actor. ...

and

; a co-production between Mandate Pictures and Barrymore's

Flower Films Flower Films, Inc. is an American film and television production company owned by Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen. Filmography Film * '' Never Been Kissed'' (1999) * ''Charlie's Angels'' (2000) * ''Donnie Darko'' (2001) * '' Duplex'' (2003) ...

. The film was distributed by

Casting

On August 12, 2007, it was announced that

would play the lead role in the film, while

, Daniel Stern and Carlo Alban were in early talks to join the cast. On August 14, 2007, Landon Pigg,

and Andrew Wilson were also in final talks to join the film,

was added to the cast, playing Iron Maven (a play on

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

) and on August 18, 2007, Ari Graynor and

joined the cast of the film, playing Eva Destruction (a play on Eve of Destruction) and the Fight Attendants Coach. ''Whip it'' is the feature-film debut of Pigg.

Music

The Section Quartet scored the music for the film and on its soundtrack. The soundtrack also contains "Knocked Up" performed by Kings Of Leon, "Pot Kettle Black" performed by Tilly and the Wall, " Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" performed by

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...

, "What's the Altitude" performed by

Cut Chemist Lucas MacFadden (born October 4, 1972), better known as Cut Chemist, is an American DJ and record producer. He is a former member of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He has collaborated with DJ Shadow on a number of projects. Early life Cut Chemist gr ...

and Hymnal, "Bang On" performed by

The Breeders The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ( ...

, "Dead Sound" performed by The Raveonettes, "Blue Turning Grey" performed by

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is an indie rock band active since the early 2000s in and out of Philadelphia. The band was founded as a collaboration between singer-songwriter Alec Ounsworth, Sean Greenhalgh, Robbie Guertin, Lee Sargent, and Ty ...

, "Your Arms Around Me" performed by Jens Lekman, " Learnalilgivinanlovin" performed by

Gotye Wouter André De Backer (; born 21 May 1980), known professionally as Gotye ( , , ), is a Belgian-born Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" (featuring Kimbr ...

, " Boys Wanna Be Her" performed by

Peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...

, " Jolene" performed by

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

, " Caught Up in You" performed by

38 Special 38 Special or 0.38 Special or .38 Special, may refer to: * .38 Special, a revolver cartridge Music * 38 Special (band), an American rock band ** ''38 Special'' (album), the 1977 debut album of the band 38 Special * .38 Special (song), a 2022 ...

, "

Never My Love "Never My Love" is a pop standard written by American siblings Don and Dick Addrisi, and best known from a hit 1967 recording by the Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success as songwri ...

" performed by

and Adam Green, "Black Gloves" performed by

Goose A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egy ...

, "Crown of Age" performed by The Ettes, "High Times" performed by Landon Pigg and Turbo Fruits, "Unattainable" performed by Little Joy, "Doing it Right" performed by The Go! Team, "Breeze" performed by Apollo Sunshine, " Kids" performed by

MGMT MGMT () is an American rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by singers and multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Goldwasser, Ben Goldwasser. Originally signed to Cantora Records by the nascent ...

, "Fun Dream Love Dream" performed by Turbo Fruits, "Know How" performed by

Young MC Marvin Young (born May 10, 1967), better known by his stage name Young M.C., is an American rapper, singer and actor. He is best known for his 1989 hit " Bust a Move". His debut album '' Stone Cold Rhymin found international acclaim. Young h ...

, "The Road to Austin" performed by The Section Quartet, " No Surprises" performed by

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

, "Domingo no Parque" performed by

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...

, "Lollipop" performed by Squeak E. Clean and Desert Eagles and other songs performed by other song performers.

Release

Theatrical release

''Whip It'' was theatrically released on October 2, 2009 in the United States.

distributed the film to 1,721 screens in the United States.

Premiere

The world premiere of the film was held at the 2009

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, Canada. The majority of the film's main cast attended the premiere. As part of the festivities, members of local league Toronto Roller Derby held an exhibition bout at Yonge Dundas Square in downtown Toronto. Toronto Roller Derby skaters, like those in other cities with major roller derby leagues, also helped promote the film in advance of the screening by wearing costumes from the film and skating around town and performing stunts while handing out flyers and giveaway items. Toronto Roller Derby credits their luck in being able to skate at the festival for helping expand their fanbase as well as their skater rosters.

Home media

''Whip It'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 26, 2010 by

Reception

Critical response

Critical reception for ''Whip It'' was generally positive. , the film holds an 86% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 190 reviews with an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 7/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "While made from overly familiar ingredients, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut has enough charm, energy, and good-natured humor to transcend its many clichés".

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

calculated an average score of 68, based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

A. O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic, known for his film and literary criticism. After starting his career at ''The New York Review of Books'', '' Variety'', and ''Slate'', he began writing film ...

called the film "predictable", but said "You might, nonetheless, want to see this movie, even—or maybe especially—if you have seen ''

Billy Elliot ''Billy Elliot'' is a 2000 British coming-of-age Comedy film, comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall (playwright), Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the fi ...

'' or ''

Bend It Like Beckham ''Bend It Like Beckham'' is a 2002 Sports film, sports comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha from a screenplay by Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, and Guljit Bindra. The film stars Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anu ...

''. Familiarity is not always a bad thing, and if the script, by Shauna Cross, piles sports movie and

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

touchstones into a veritable

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

cliché A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being b ...

s, the cast shows enough agility and conviction to make them seem almost fresh."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

said it's a "coming-together of two free spirits, Drew Barrymore and lliotPage, and while it may not reflect the kind of female empowerment

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...

had in mind, it has guts, charm, and a black-and-blue sweetness." According to the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'', "''Whip It'' is completely predictable from the first frame. It also is ridiculously, utterly entertaining. Drew Barrymore's smashing directorial debut harkens back to an era in which Hollywood studio pictures could still move and enthrall the audience while plying in hoary cliches."

Box office

''Whip It'' was financially unsuccessful. Initial studio estimates showed ''Whip It'' in a tie for #6 in its opening weekend, tying with the widely released '' Capitalism: A Love Story'', and it wound up taking sixth place with $4,650,812. The film grossed $13,043,363 in North America. It grossed $3,589,672 in foreign movie sales, for a grand total of $16,633,035 worldwide. Production cost of the film was $15 million.

Accolades

Soundtrack

The film has a 58-song playlist, with a wide range of styles and genres. Nineteen tracks appear on the CD of the soundtrack, with additional tracks at various MP3 stores. According to

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, "The disc is a blend of familiar old standbys (including a glittering remix of the Chordettes' "Lollipop") and indie acts (among them Barrymore's ex-boyfriend

Fabrizio Moretti Fabrizio Moretti (born June 2, 1980) also known as Fab, is a Brazilian-American musician and visual artist best known as the drummer for American rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since 2001. A collaborative art ...

's band Little Joy), achieving the kind of safely edgy balance that embodies the Fox Searchlight aesthetic (that is, it's quirky enough to appeal to the cool kids, but never strays too far from the mainstream)."

Track listing

# Tilly and the Wall – "Pot Kettle Black" #

– " Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" #

featuring Hymnal – "What's the Altitude" #

– "Bang On" # The Raveonettes – "Dead Sound" #

– "Blue Turning Grey" # Jens Lekman – "Your Arms Around Me" #

– " Learnalilgivinanlovin" #

– " Boys Wanna Be Her" #

– " Jolene" #

– " Caught Up in You" #

featuring Adam Green – "

" #

– "Black Gloves" # The Ettes – "Crown of Age" # Landon Pigg featuring Turbo Fruits – "High Times" # Little Joy – "Unattainable" #

The Chordettes The Chordettes were an American female vocal quartet, specializing in traditional pop music. They are best known for their 1950s hit singles " Mr. Sandman" and " Lollipop", both of which sold over a million copies. Career The group organized i ...

– "

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker and sticky-pop. Lollipops are avail ...

( Squeak E. Clean & Desert Eagles remix)" # The Go! Team – "Doing it Right" # Apollo Sunshine – "Breeze" #

– " Kids" # Turbo Fruits – "Fun Dream Love Dream" (Amazon MP3 version track) #

– "Know How" (iTunes version bonus track) # The Section Quartet – "The Road to Austin" (iTunes version bonus track) #

– " No Surprises" #

– "Domingo no Parque"

Notes

References

External links